PHOTO OF THE DAY: NASA Photographer Tony Gray Catches a Curious Bobcat Near Launch Pad 39B at KSC

Kennedy Space Center shares a boundary with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, a bobcat wades through one of the waterways near Launch Pad 39B.

The center shares a boundary with the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, and with 30 species of mammals calling the refuge home, the Bobcat (Lynx Rufus) is one of the most curious critters.

With these wildcats being nocturnal, they prefer to sleep during the day and hunt or explore at night. They are mostly solitary animals with their territories ranging from 6 to 30 square miles. It is always a treat if you’re lucky enough to spot one.

The refuge encompasses 140,000 acres that are a habitat for more than 330 species of birds, 31 mammals, 117 fish, and 65 amphibians and reptiles. It contains more than 1,000 known plant species.

The marshes and open water of the refuge provide wintering areas for migratory waterfowl, as well as a year-round home for great blue herons, great egrets, wood storks, cormorants, brown pelicans, and other species of marsh and shore birds, and a variety of insects.

Established in 1963 and spanning more than 140,000 acres on Florida’s barrier island, the refuge protects an astounding diversity, from salt marshes and dunes to hardwood hammocks, supporting over 1,000 plant species, 330 bird species, and 15 federally listed species like sea turtles and scrub‑jays.

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