I am alive and well!!!............
James,
So that's a fine welcome! Probably most folk here have never even seen a photograph of bobcat, let alone have one in their back yard!
Some information: The Bobcat is believed to have evolved from the Eurasian Lynx, which crossed into North America by way of the Bering land bridge during the Pleistocene, with progenitors arriving as early as 2.6 mya.[4] The first wave moved into the southern portion of North America, which was soon cut off from the north by glaciers. This population evolved into modern Bobcats around 20,000 years ago. A second population arrived from Asia and settled in the north, developing into the modern Canadian Lynx.[3] Hybridization between the Bobcat and the Canadian lynx may sometimes occur (see felid hybrid).[6]
In Native American mythology bobcat is often twinned with the figure of coyote in a theme of duality.[45] Lynx and coyote are associated with the wind and fog, respectively—two elements representing opposites in Amerindian folklore. This basic story, in many variations, is found in the native cultures of North America (with parallels in South America), but they diverge in the telling. One version, which appears in the Nez Perce folklore for instance, depicts Lynx and coyote as opposed, antithetical beings.[46] However, another version depicts them with equality and identicality. Claude Lévi-Strauss argues that the former concept, that of twins representing opposites, is an inherent theme in New World mythologies, but that they are not equally balanced figures, representing an open-ended dualism rather than the symmetric duality of Old World cultures. The latter notion then, Lévi-Strauss suggests, is the result of regular contact between Europeans and native cultures. Additionally, the version found in the Nez Perce story is of much greater complexity, while the version of equality seems to have lost the tale's original meaning.[47]
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just watch out for your pets!
Asher
