This is a bobcat at the Orange County Zoo. Isn’t it adorable? Don’t you just want to reach in and scratch its chin? I do. But my mother, who once had a lion clamp its jaws down on her arm,¹ says that this would not be a wise idea . . .
¹No damage was done. The lion didn’t really want to eat her, it turned out.
![](https://preprod.motherjones.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/blog_lunchtime_oc_zoo_bobcat.jpg)