VIDEO: Check Out This Bobcat's Amazing Leap

If you've spent any time around cats, then you already know how adept they can be at pulling off incredible jumps. They gather themselves up, shake their hindquarters a little, think about it for a moment, and then bang, they're six feet away.  

And bobcats, the bigger, meaner, much wilder cousin of your pet cat, can really jump. 

Just look at this video of a bobcat jumping from post to post in Louisiana. It creeps up to one side of the weir and then contemplates whether he can make the jump or not. The guy filming the video thought he probably wouldn't, saying, "I grabbed my phone thinking he was about to get wet, but he surprised us all."  

There's no way to be sure, but the jump looks like it is at least 15 and maybe 20 feet, but the bobcat clears it with very little effort. It is a beautiful and also scary illustration of how quickly and skilfully a bobcat can clear the distance between itself and its prey. 

Luckily, bobcat generally won't attack an adult in the wild, although there have been many exceptions. If you encounter a bobcat, you should back away slowly while making a lot of noise. As with a bear, you don't want to run in case the bobcat makes chase. As this video shows, that's a race you won't win.