Ed Trist is used to seeing wildlife around his remote, northern Ontario home.
But not quite like this.
A few days ago, Trist and his girlfriend, Nicole Lewis were in an off-road vehicle along a logging road near Avery Lake, some 150 kilometres east of Kenora, when they came upon a most unusual cat fight.
Two lynx were squared off, caterwauling along the roadside.
And the humans had the wherewithal to record the truly bizarre encounter.
“This is so frickin cool. So cool. Who runs into this?” Trist can be heard saying in the video, as the cats wailed away, oblivious to the audience.
“Just another eve at Avery Lake!!” Trist wrote on Facebook, where his video had been viewed almost 5 million times since it was posted. “So cool and SO RARE to come upon this!!”
Lewis was also recording.
Her video has now amassed more than 6 million views.
“I can’t believe we’re getting this,” Trist says.”Do you know how rare this is?”
And the rest of us thank you for it.
Why exactly are they acting like this?
Chris Enright, head of veterinary services at Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg, told CBC it could be courtship behaviour, two males asserting their dominance for a female or two otherwise solitary cats that have crossed paths.
It’s hard to tell, precisely, he said.
But it is confirmed, very cool.
Photos Nicole Lewis/Facebook