The reign of the big cats is almost at an end at Apple, and we don't know what will replace them.

With the rumor mill now pointing to the name "Lynx" for Mac OS X 10.9, the company is almost running out of big cat names it has already trademarked. We've already seen Mac OSs named for the Cheetah, Puma, Jaguar, Panther, Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Lion and Mountain Lion. (The only other one remaining is "Cougar," which has acquired something of an alternate meaning since Apple trademarked it in 2004.)

Regardless of whether Apple continues the Mac OS X series with version 10.10, starts afresh with Mac OS XI, or merges the Mac and the iOS systems — all of which are possibilities — it's going to need a naming convention to replace the wild felines sooner rather than later. (Somehow, we doubt we'll see the company putting its considerable marketing muscle behind Mac OS X Ocelot.)

So is it time to give the big dogs some love? Should Apple achieve balance in the endless war of cat versus dog by naming its next operating systems after wild canines (such as Hyena, Wolf, Dingo, Coyote and Jackal) or would that just sound too dumb? How about domestic dog breeds? Should we focus attention on birds of prey, which would allow for Mac OS Eagle (and the uber-patriotic Bald Eagle), but also runs the risk of lumping us with Mac OS Vulture?

We've gathered some of the cooler-sounding series of names in the poll below. If you have a better idea, let us know in the comments.

Image courtesy of Apple

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