BOBCAT, MOUNTAIN LION, GRIZZLEY BEAR

note: This is part 4 of five successive posts showing animals displayed at the

 Placerita Canyon Nature Center near Santa Clarita, Southern  California.

The title of this blog post might leave you wondering "how can these three animals be included together in the same blog?" The answer is that not long ago, these animals used to live in the mountains near Santa Clarita, Southern California (where I live).  Today, only the bobcat is still around, and it is a very rare sight.

                                           BOBCAT                                                                                          

Bobcats are one of the four extant species in the cat genus Lynx.

Bobcats are native to the New World and range from North America to Canada, USA, and Mexico.

These cats have distinctive black bars on their forelegs and upper back legs. They also have a “bobbed” (stubby tail), hence the name “bobcat.” 

They also have small black tuffs on the tips of their ears.

The total length of their body can be up to 50 inches.

Their diet consists of a wide range of food: rodents, small game, insects, birds, rodents, and deer. Bobcats prefer to live in woodlands, and these cats are most active at night. 

Kingdom Animalia

Phylum Chordata

Class Mammalia

Order Carnivora

Family Felidae

Genus Lynx

Type Species Lynx rufus

Bobcats are derived from the European Lynx, which crossed into North America during the Pleistocene (about 2.6 million years ago) via the Bering Land Bridge (see one of my earlier posts). 

The example of the bobcat shown here is a taxidermy rendition of a specimen. It is on display at the Placerita Canyon Nature Center (free admission and free parking).

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MOUNTAIN LION

Puma concolor is known by several other names: mountain lion, cougar, panther, and catamount (and these are just the more common names).

 

The mountain lion is a large cat native to the Americas (North, Central, and South America). Its geographic distribution today is from the Yukon to Patagonia. In fact, it is the most widely distributed wild, terrestrial, carnivore mammal in the Western Hemisphere. They are mainly a solitary animal that preys on deer and rodents.

Adults weight up to 160 pounds (male) and 110 pounds (female). They can run at speeds up to 50 miles per hour. They are unlikely to attack humans, but never mess with them anyway!

They can live up to 19,000 feet in elevation. They are mainly a solitary animal.

Puma probably originated in Asia about 11 mya (early late Miocene). At 8.5 to 8 mya, they migrated across the Bering Land Bridge into North America [see one if my earlier blog posts on this subject). Much later, following the formation of the Isthmus of Panama, about 2 to 4 mya,, they invaded Central and South America as part of the “Great American Interchange” [see another one of my earlier blog posts on this subject].

An excellent taxidermy rendition of a mountain lion. It can be viewed at the Placertia Canyon Nature Center, near Santa Clarita.

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GRIZZLY BEAR

The scientific name of the Grizzly Bear is Ursus arctos horribilis, which most bear experts treat as a subspecies of the North American brown bear. This conclusion is based on modern genetic testing. Furthermore, the “grizzly bear” (males can be up to 858 pounds in weight) is the largest subspecies of the brown bear.

The brown bear originated in Eurasia and migrated to North America 177,000 to 111,000 years ago. These bears can be blond to nearly black in color. They have distinctive hump on the shoulder.

The specimen shown here (about 7 to 8 feet tall) is encased in a glass box with spotlights focused on it; thus the photography and Photoshopping of this specimen posed considerable challenges-because of the reflected light. The image shown here is not perfect, but it shows the necessary information.

The reference I used for all three of the above mammals is Wikipedia.