Text 26419, 69 rader
Skriven 2009-07-24 21:27:07 av Carol Shenkenberger (413.cooks)
     Kommentar till en text av Glen Jamieson (402.cooks)
Ärende: DOC'S  90724
====================
    
 >  > The bobcat as shown in the picture in Grolier is a strange looking
 >  > beast.  Not something you would want your pet cat to meet. In my
 > 
 >  CS> Dood, you are from OZ and you call our critters strange? LOL!
 > 
 > It is all in the eye of the beholder!  I admit that the first
 > Europeans to come here were amazed at the animals they saw, and the

(snip)

True.

North America wasnt that startling.  Sure a few odd new ones  (am thinking
Possums and Armadillos).  Turkeys might have been odd but not that far off.

The biggest introduction was really a re-introduction.  Horses developed in
the NA continent and moved to Asia-Europe then died out here. (reason
unknown, pre-man habitance).

 >  CS> Anyways, Bobcats are normal here to large swatches of the USA.  If you
 >  CS> recall my 'Tails of bobby' messages, he was a normal occurance of
 >  CS> BobCat mating with a domestic cat.
 > 
 > I couldn't remember if he was a hybrid or pure bobcat.  How was he
 > with squirrels?

Hehe They say the Bobcat and/or Lynx is the most prolific cat we have here. 
I got the impression they might outnumber house cats?   Web pages I checked
say there is no validation of bobcats mixing with housecats.  Odd that.  Been
going on a long time from all I have heard.  Larger house cats mind you, not
tham itty bitty ones.  Lynx's are confirmed to cross breed with both bobcats
and domestic cats.

My guess is the Bobcat can look so close to tabby, it's just not that obvious
unless they have the face ruff.  Especially if the spots mute into bands of
color a bit.

As to squirrels, I dont know but he was real good at mousing and gophers
tended to move away.  Thats feedback from the farm I gifted him to when I got
orders for Hawaii and the state refused to allow me to take him there except
as a zoo animal.  He lived a full happy life there in Northern San Antonio
area on a farm, and loads of kittens in the area that looked just like him so
'sterile' he was not we all assume.

 >  CS> Now the pumas seem far off genetically that they either cant or dont
 >  CS> want to try to crossbreed, but the Bobcat apparently works.
 > 
 > Probably size matters in felines, also...

Yup, too much difference and the wild one will kill the smaller one.  Bobcats
range from 15-30lbs normally.  This is not far off that of the domestic larger
cat.

 >  CS> Grin, might not want to import Bobcats to your land.  Even if 'jeez,
 >  CS> all male, not a problem' your lady cats just might add an offering to
 >  CS> your ecology they were not expecting?
 > 
 > The present populations of feral cats, foxes, donkeys, camels, goats,
 > pigs, rabbits, rats, mice, sparrows, starlings, pigeons, doves, minahs
 > and cockroaches have caused quite enough trouble, without adding
 > bobcats to the mix!  There were reports some years ago of a puma being
 > seen in mountainous areas in NSW, allegedly a military mascot released
 > when its US owners left at the end of WW2, but fortunately only one.

Grin, pumas can breed with other big cats but apparently that didnt happen.
        xxcarol
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