Lynx - Lynx canadensis - Video, Facts

The lynx is a medium-sized cat characterized by its long ear tufts and short (bobbed) tail with a black tip. It has unusually large paws that act as snow shoes in very deep snow and its thick fur and long legs make it appear larger than it really is.

Diet

Staples Snowshoe hares. Lynx are specialized hunters and can survive only where there are adequate hare populations.
Also known to eat mice, voles, grouse, ptarmigan, and red squirrel.

Population

Perhaps 1,000 lynx exist in the lower 48 states.

Range

Historically, lynx lived in four geographically distinct areas within the continental United States. These areas included the Northeast, the Great Lakes states, the northern Rocky Mountains/Cascades and the southern Rocky Mountains. 

In the United States today, lynx are known to occur only in Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Wyoming, Washington, Idaho and possibly in Michigan. A recent reintroduction program has reestablished a population in Colorado. See a range map >>

Behavior

Generally solitary animals, lynx usually hunt and travel alone and are slightly more active at night than by day. Lynx have complex needs for their habitat. They require different forest types, including young forests with thick vegetation for hunting snowshoe hares and older forests with good cover for their dens.

Reproduction
Mating Season: March and April
Gestation: 63-70 days
Litter Size: Average of 4 kittens.
Kittens stay with their mother for the first year while they learn to hunt.

Global Warming and Other Threats

Lynx are threatened by global warming in different ways. Rising temperatures will decrease snowfall overall, reducing denning opportunities for lynx mothers. Also, more melting snow will cause more frequent refreezing, creating a hard crust atop softer snow.

Lynx depend on areas with abundant snowshoe hare populations and lots of deep, soft snow where they have a competitive advantage over coyotes, bobcats and other predators. Also, with a harder crust to support their weigh, the lynx will have a greater advantage during their hunts, lowering the escape rate of the hare. This could cause the lynx to have a higher success rate and decimate the hare populations. The lynx will essentially eat themselves out of their critical food source.

Lynx are also threatened by logging, which destroys the habitat both it and the snowshoe hare rely upon for survival.

Reasons For Hope

Many efforts have gone into helping preserve the lynx. Once hunted and trapped for their fur, the lynx is now protected from all hunting in the U.S., except in Alaska. In the 1980’s certain areas in Colorado were very polluted but thanks to recovery efforts have slowly been cleaned up over the years and turned into a wildlife refuge. In 1999 an ambitious program of lynx restoration began in the remote San Juan Mountains, and by 2005 more than 200 animals had been released and now in addition to the lynx this refuge is home to over 330 different species. In 2000 the lynx was recognized as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act.

In February 2009 the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service designated 39,000 square miles of forest in six states to conserve the threatened predator. That includes 12,834 square miles in two areas of Montana. And as proof that conservationists’ hard work has paid off, in June 2009 ten lynx kittens were found in 5 dens in Colorado.

Legal Status/Protection

• Endangered Species Act: Under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), the lynx is listed as threatened.
• CITES: The lynx is listed in Appendix II.
• Learn more about legal status and protection for lynx >>

How You Can Help

• Help lynx and other wildlife by adopting an animal at our Wildlife Adoption and Gift Center.
• Take Action for Wildlife at our Wildlife Action Center.

For additional information

Visit Defenders' Imperiled Species: Lynx pages for more information about what Defenders is doing to help.