Oh, to live such a luxurious life as to be able to laze about, play, occasionally snack, and nap to one’s heart’s content. Even if one doesn’t own a cat, over two decades of the internet’s existence has made us all well aware of these traits. It has even been said that the internet was created solely to showcase pictures and videos of this extravagant life of cats, and all other purposes of the technology come in at a distant second to the felines. This week we look at one of their wild cousins, a common yet elusive neighbor of ours who seemingly takes on the exact same life, the bobcat.

Bobcats are their own species, but fall under the genus of lynx, and thus a whole world of confusion begins, as the two species are quite commonly confused. While Colorado is home to a very small number of Canadian lynx, they are a far more rare creature to see. More often than not a sighting in the wild is usually a bobcat. They are by far the most prolific cat found in North America (outside of the domesticated varieties), and there are few places bobcats don’t call home in the United States.

While telling the two creatures apart has its distinct challenges, there are a few signs that one can use to make a determination. Bobcats tend to be about twice the size of a housecat and average about 20 pounds, maxing out at about 40 pounds for a very large specimen. Lynx tend to average between 30-40 pounds, and can top out at about 60 pounds. Lynx are also generally a good bit taller with noticeably longer legs and much larger paws, needed to navigate the deep snows of the north.

While both cats have ear tufts, a bobcat’s tufts are generally fairly short where the lynx’s are much longer and more pronounced. As to the ears themselves, bobcats have a white spot on the back of each ear where lynx tend to be a more solid color. While both have a seemingly bobbed tail, a bobcat’s is much shorter. It is also typically banded with black stripes and ends with a white tip. A lynx tail lacks any banding and ends with a black tip.

It is said that bobcats have more of an attitude than lynx when encountered in the wild, and while I have yet to meet a lynx, I can certainly attest to the attitude. In my encounters with bobcats, they tend to exude a snootiness and aloof behavior very similar to housecats. They are not really afraid of humans, and a few local cats are even well known to spend time on porches and fences near homes, but they generally regard us as more of a nuisance than something to fear.

Like a housecat, they simply want a place to relax and soak up some sun between bouts of hunting. Like most predators they do prefer the crepuscular hours (dawn and dusk) for hunting, but can be seen any time of the day.

The beautiful specimen seen here was a neighbor of mine for a few years in the Sunnyside neighborhood and commonly patrolled the hills in search of voles, squirrels, chipmunks and rabbits. I had the pleasure of a handful of encounters, and in nearly every case the cat seemed to have cared less about my presence, and always casually went about its business. In the instance of the encounter in this image, the cat was ultimately more perturbed about the click of my camera shutter interrupting its nap than my actually being in its presence, because who really likes to have their naps interrupted.

For information about James DeWalt Photography, check out https:// jamesdewaltphotography.com. [Additional information for this article about bobcats and lynx came from https://animals. howstuffworks.com/mammals/bobcat-vslynx. htm.]