Awww ....

Aroostook County, ME

(Some jamoke complained that there was no link to an underlying story here, and I told him there was no story — turns out, there is, behind a paywall. If one disables Java to get around that, the pictures and videos are disabled too, so here are the relevant excerpts from the article itself):

Lynx are reclusive and prone to staying in the forests. They hunt snowshoe hares, which make up 75 percent of their diet.

Most of us have never had the opportunity to see such a large group of lynx, but the dynamics are typical of lynx in the wild, according to Jennifer Vashon, Canada lynx and black bear biologist for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

“It appears to be an adult female with four of her offspring,” Vashon said. “This is within the normal realm of a family group’s behavior. Kittens remain with their mother through the first 10 to 12 months of life. During this time, they are learning how to hunt and capture prey effectively.”

Vashon explained that lynx may have up to five kittens in a litter, which means a group of four points to a good scenario for the animals in such cases.

“Litter size is strongly correlated with prey abundance,” she said. “When there are a lot of snowshoe hares, litters of four to five kittens are very common. Observations like this one, suggest (at least locally) high habitat quality and prey levels.”

Lynx kittens, which are born in May, are able to travel with their mother by early July, and stay with her until the following spring.

“The energetic needs of a family group are much higher and they are much more efficient at catching their prey when they hunt cooperatively as a family group,” Vashon said. “The family unit begins to dissolve at the onset of the breeding season (late winter).”

Even so, Vashon said the kittens have been known to hang out together when the family disburses, or even to rejoin their mother after having branched out on their own.

“Although often thought of as solitary individuals, related lynx and especially related female lynx can be very tolerant of each other,” Vashon said, citing an intensive telemetry study done many years ago in northern Maine.

Vashon said that during the breeding season, in late February and March, there often are reports of two lynx together. They are typically a breeding pair, or two males engaged in some sort of territorial dispute.