Is It a Bobcat or a Lynx?
You may be seeing a larger-sized cat with long, tufted ears and a short, bobbed tail strutting their stuff through our neighbourhood and wondering if it’s a bobcat or a lynx. Oddly enough no matter what you thought, you are right!
While bobcats and lynxes are separate species, they do belong to the same genus, which, coincidentally, happens to be the Lynx genus. There are four different species belonging to the Lynx genus: the Eurasian lynx, the Spanish (or Iberian) lynx, the Canadian lynx, and finally the bobcat.
The bobcat looks a bit like an overgrown house cat with extra-long tufts of fur on its ears and a shaggy mane of fur around its cheeks. Their short, rounded tails appear to be cut, or “bobbed”, and is completed by a band with black stripes ending in black at the top of the tip and white at the bottom.
The bobcats diet includes rabbit, hare, and small prey like birds and mice. Bobcats are opportunistic hunters so keeping cats indoors and supervising small dogs when they are in the yard are ways you can keep your animals safe.
Remember:
• Do not feed wildlife.
• Keep your garbage in containers with tight-fitting lids.
• Put your garbage and recycling out only on the morning of collection, not earlier.
• Do not leave pet food outdoors.
• Do not approach the bobcats – they are wild animals.
The bobcats are our neighbours so it’s important that we learn how to safety co-exist.
