They also make a variety of hissing and chattering sounds. A litter, usually of two or three kittens, is produced after a gestation of 68-72 days in the early summer and reared in a lair in a hollow tree, rock cleft or similar site. They may take meat at one month, but are not weaned until five months old. When winter comes they have still not got their adult teeth or fully developed their claws so that, although they will be accompanying their mother on hunting expeditions for some time, they are not yet able to survive alone. They stay with their mother until the next mating season, when they are usually chased away by suitors.
Siblings often stay together for a time after separating from their mother.
Females reach maturity at 21 months, males at 33 months.