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Sarasota News Leader February 15, 2013 Dear Readers, Page 84 and forgot to put its tongue back in! In this case, I think baby bobcat knows it looks phoEver since the local press began publishing togenically irresistible and is practicing that photos of Siesta Key���s bobcats in the fall of look on its reflection in the pool. What luck 2005, sightings of these elusive creatures have for Dlorah and our readers! grown as these cats have increased their numbers, in part, by adapting themselves to the Dlorah���s bobcat is about four-months old. This key���s suburban lifestyle. means that mommy is close by and watching. Bobcats stay with their mothers for the first The most recent evidence of the existence of six months of their lives. a thriving bobcat ���clowder��� or ���glaring��� (as a bobcat colony is called) is a recent photo by Once the juveniles have mastered hunting and Dlorah Hayden, who lives on the south end other critical survival skills taught them by of the key. In it, a ludicrously adorable (i.e., their mothers, they turn solitary until they are almost as cute as an owlet!) baby bobcat has ready to mate. This normally occurs at two stopped by Dlorah���s pool for a drink of water. years of age. So, you might catch a glimpse of a female and male pair during mating season, The most endearing feature of this fabulous but you will never actually see a ���clowder��� photo is the kitten���s stuck-out tongue. Why or ���glaring��� of bobcats. But some etymologist do cats often forget to put their tongues worked very hard to research group terms for back in their mouths? Veterinarians explain them, so I thought I should include that terthat because a cat spends one-third of its life minology. tongue-preening itself this a natural response to feeling very comfortable and at ease in its A female bobcat, called a ���queen���, may give surroundings. In other words, it got distracted birth to six kittens, although a litter of three A bobcat kitten laps at water in a pool on Siesta Key. Photo courtesy of Dlorah Hayden