Editing Bobcat (section)

==Importance in human culture==
Stories featuring the bobcat, in many variations, are found in some Indigenous cultures of North America, with parallels in South America. A story from the [[Nez Perce tribe|Nez Perce]], for instance, depicts the bobcat and coyote as opposed, antithetical beings.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Pollock, D. |date=1993 | title = Histoire de Lynx, Review | journal = American Anthropologist | volume = 95 | issue = 1 | pages = 223–224 | doi = 10.1525/aa.1993.95.1.02a00800}}</ref> However, another version represents them with equality and identicality. [[Claude Lévi-Strauss]] argues that the former concept, that of twins representing opposites, is an inherent theme in New World mythologies, but that they are not equally balanced figures, representing an open-ended dualism rather than the symmetric duality of Old World cultures. The latter notion then, Lévi-Strauss suggests, is the result of regular contact between Europeans and native cultures. Additionally, the version found in the Nez Perce story is of much greater complexity, while the version of equality seems to have lost the tale's original meaning.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Yalman, Nur | year = 1996 | title = Lévi-Strauss in Wonderland: Playing Chess with Unusual Cats: The Story of Lynx | journal = American Ethnologist | volume = 23 | issue = 4| pages = 902| doi = 10.1525/ae.1996.23.4.02a00120 }}</ref>
[[File:Bobcat-image-MariadB.png|thumb|250x250px|Female bobcat at the [[Carolina Tiger Rescue]].]]
In a [[Shawnee]] tale, the bobcat is outwitted by a rabbit, which gives rise to its spots. After trapping the rabbit in a tree, the bobcat is persuaded to build a fire, only to have the embers scattered on its fur, leaving it singed with dark brown spots.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.jaxzoo.org/things/biofacts/FloridaBobcat.asp | title = Florida Bobcat Bio Facts | access-date = June 27, 2007 | year = 2005 | publisher = Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060225003145/http://www.jaxzoo.org/things/biofacts/FloridaBobcat.asp| archive-date = February 25, 2006}}</ref> The [[Mohave people]] believed dreaming habitually of beings or objects would afford them their characteristics as supernatural powers. Dreaming of two deities, cougar and lynx, they thought, would grant them the superior hunting skills of other tribes.<ref>{{cite journal | author = Kroeber, A. L. |date=1908 | title = Preliminary Sketch of the Mohave Indians | journal = [[American Anthropologist]] | volume = 4 | issue = 2 | doi = 10.1525/aa.1902.4.2.02a00060 | pages = 276–285 |doi-access = free}}</ref> European-descended inhabitants of the Americas also admired the cat, both for its ferocity and its grace, and in the United States, it "rests prominently in the anthology of&nbsp;... national folklore".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nd.edu/~ndmag/tempsp96.html |title=Wood Ghost |access-date=June 25, 2007 |last=Temple |first=Kerry |date=1996 |work=Notre Dame Magazine| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061219092933/http://www.nd.edu/~ndmag/tempsp96.html| archive-date = December 19, 2006}}</ref>

Grave artifacts from dirt domes excavated in the 1980s along the [[Illinois River]] revealed a complete skeleton of a young bobcat along with a collar made of bone pendants and shell beads that had been buried by the [[Hopewell tradition|Hopewell culture]]. The type and place of burial indicate a tamed and cherished pet or possible spiritual significance. The Hopewell normally buried their dogs, so the bones were initially identified as remains of a puppy, but dogs were usually buried close to the village and not in the mounds themselves. This is the only wild cat decorated burial on the archaeological record.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.1179/2327427115Y.0000000007 |title=A Bobcat Burial and Other Reported Intentional Animal Burials from Illinois Hopewell Mounds|journal=Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology |volume=40 |issue=3|pages=282|year=2015|last1=Perri|first1=A. R.|last2=Martin|first2=T. J.|last3=Farnsworth|first3=K. B. |s2cid=132342406}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1126/science.aac8794|title=Ancient bobcat buried like a human being|journal=Science|year=2015|last1=Grimm|first1=D.}}</ref>

An inhabitant of [[Appalachia]], ''Lynx rufus'' is immortalized (along with university founder [[Rufus Putnam]]) at [[Ohio University]] through its popular college mascot, [[Rufus the Bobcat]].<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.ohiobobcats.com/genrel/091206aaa.html | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20060912010101/http://www.ohiobobcats.com/genrel/091206aaa.html| title = Bobcat Naming Contest Winner to be Honored at Football Game | access-date = 2006-09-06 | year = 2006 | publisher = Ohio University| url-status = dead | archive-date = September 12, 2006}}</ref>