Of the two species of lynx native to North America, the bobcat is by far the most common. It is also the one that lives closest to densely populated areas.
They vary greatly in size. Some are just slightly larger than domestic cats, especially in the more southerly parts of its range. The biggest ones can exceed 40 pounds in weight.
One of these recently popped up at the downhill training ground at the Vancouver Olympics. It was unfortunately misidentified as a Canada lynx.
The Canada lynx’s range is more northerly than the bobcat’s. They are larger on average, but the biggest bobcats are larger than the biggest Canada lynx. They have longer legs and bigger feet in proportion to their body size and unlike the bobcat, are very specialized at hunting snowshoe hares. Canada lynx populations tracks snowshoe hare populations, which are known to be quite cyclical.
I’ve always felt that bobcats looked more like the big Eurasian lynx than Canada lynx do. However, for years, the Canada lynx was regarded as the same species as the Eurasian, even though they are very different animals. Both the bobcat and Eurasian lynx are generalists, and they both vary a bit in size. Eurasians do get much larger than bobcats, but they have the same markings.
Bobcats derive from lynx-like ancestors that migrated to North America from Eurasia when there were many large predators roaming the continent. They had to get smaller in order to find a niche in that ecosystem.
i killed a squirrel one time and have regretted it ever since