These Two Angry, Yelling Lynx Are Probably Fighting About Sex

By Rafi Letzter, Staff Writer | May 22, 2018 03:19pm ET

Two lynx face off on the side of a road in Ontario. "RNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH," says one. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHNHHNHAAAHHH," says the other. "YYYYYYAAAAAAAHHHHHSSSSS," they say in unison, tapping their foreheads together before suddenly darting apart.

This fight, captured on video by passerby Edward Trist and shared on Twitter by the website Globalnews.ca, is truly strange to watch and listen to. And Luke Hunter, chief conservation officer for Panthera, the global wild cat conservation organization, said the spat is almost certainly about sex.

When an Ontario man came across two lynx staring each other down and shrieking at one another on a rural road, he took out his phone and recorded the encounter to post on Facebook. READ MORE: https://globalnews.ca/news/4222396/lynx-caught-on-video-wailing-at-each-other-in-ontario/ …

"Canada lynx, due to their harsh winters, are highly seasonal breeders, and this is right at the end of their usual breeding period," Hunter told Live Science.

Lynx breed mostly in the spring, finishing up in April or sometimes May, Hunter said. By summer, the females settle down to give birth, and any lynx that haven't bred have missed their shot. That means, he said, this is a time when lots of male and female lynx are out on the prowl, looking for that last shot at mating and the opportunity to parent a litter of kittens. And in this case, all those aroused feelings likely led the two animals to face off, he said.

"This is an amazing vocalization I've never heard from Canada lynx," Hunter said. "But it's basically the same thing [as in house cats] — this sort of very screechy vocalization that shows stress and is designed to intimidate the other animal." [20 Weird Dog and Cat Behaviors Explained by Science]

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