Lynx rufus
Have you ever heard such a ferocious sound come out of such a petite animal? Well the bobcat is that animal. In this paper we will be discussing the name, history, anatomy, behavior and location on the bobcat. I wonder where they get their name… The name of the bobcat is quite ironic, because it is literally from the fact that their tails are in fact bobbed, or short. It also has a binomial name, which is Lynx rufus. Interestingly enough, its’ scientific name comes of off Felis, which has to do with the cat family. There had been a debate on whether to classify this species as Lynx rufus or Felis rufus as part of a wider issue regarding whether the four species of Lynx should be given their own genus, or be placed as a subgenus of Felis. Ultimately the Lynx genus is now accepted. The bobcat belongs to the Animalia kingdon, the Chordata phylum and is in the Mammalia class. It is also a part of the Carnivora order and in the Felidae family. Not to mention the Lynx genus and being the L. rufus species. The history of the bobcat is dated back to about 3.2 to 1.8 million years ago, according to some fossilized remains. The remains indicate that the bobcats origins lye in Africa. Similar to the modern day cat, the bobcat is a descendent of the Miacidae family, a carnivorous mammal that lived about 65 to 33 million years ago and is believed to be the predecessor of all modern carnivores. These carnivores possessed the ability to climb, and the modern-day bobcat still retains this. The earlier species of the bobcat, Lynx issiodorensis, existed before the first Ice Age and was much larger in size. The bobcat gradually reduced in size as it evolved toward the modern day Lynx rufus. The anatomy of the bobcat is rather interesting to me, due to the fact that the bobcat belongs to the same family as the Lynx. They are similar in appearance but not at all the same. The bobcat is smaller in size and has smaller feet and ear