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In most solitary mammals, females are philopatric, and males disperse from their natal areas ( Shields 1987, Blundell et al. By definition, philopatric individuals in a population live closer to relatives than non-philopatric individuals and may exhibit kin-selected behaviour because the proximity of relatives allows them to impact each other's fitness ( Poole 1985, Rubenstein & Wrangham 1987, Shields 1987, Wade & Breden 1987). The rate and pattern of dispersal also have consequences on social organization and behaviour ( Poole 1985). If levels of dispersal are low or highly sex-biased, reintroductions of the non-dispersing sex may be necessary to reestablish a breeding population in areas where it was extirpated ( McKelvey et al. Dispersal affects the impact of local extinction because it influences the probability of recolonization ( Chepko-Sade et al. Dispersal influences genetic structure, population dynamics and rates of inbreeding and outbreeding ( Shields 1987, Blundell et al. Natal dispersal is defined as the movement of an individual from its site of origin to a new and separate breeding site ( Shields 1987, Gompper et al. This study provides genetic and observational evidence for male-biased dispersal in a solitary felid and is consistent with dispersal trends in mammals. Among nine radio-collared females and 12 radio-collared males, two females and six males dispersed away from the study site. Male-biased dispersal and female philopatry were hypothesized to explain the observed patterns in relatedness. In contrast, pair-wise relatedness distribution for males was not significantly different from the expected random distribution. Pair-wise relatedness distribution for females was significantly different from the expected random distribution and skewed towards 1st and 2nd degree relatives. Relatedness among females (r = 0.050, ± 0.042, 95% CI) was significantly higher than among males (r = -0.075, ± 0.031).
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We examined dispersal patterns in a southern Texas bobcat population using eight microsatellites by estimating relatedness within the population and among individuals and observing dispersal events via radio-telemetry. Although bobcats Lynx rufus are believed to exhibit high dispersal rates, bobcat dispersal has not been extensively studied due to limitations associated with traditional field research methods. Dispersal is a mechanism hypothesized to have evolved to reduce resource competition, competition for mates and inbreeding.