Pawprints and Purrs, Inc.
Wildlife
Lynx
A Non-Profit 501(c)(3) Organization
All donations are tax deductible
Copyright © 1997 - 2007
 The northern lynx is a large cat with a powerful body set on solid looking legs, a rear noticeably longer than the front, with large paws, and a very short tail. It has a large head with side whiskers and large tufted ears. Its coat is yellowish-brown fading to white on its undersides, and may be spotted with dark brown: the presence of spots and the spotting pattern varies considerably between subspecies.
The northern lynx may be found in the pine forests and thick scrub south of the arctic in North America, Europe and Asia, where it hunts by night, from the ground, and seeks rodents, birds, fish, small deer, goats, and sheep. Lynx can climb well and are good swimmers. They have acute vision and will stalk prey over long distances or wait patiently in ambush before making a final, typical felid bound from as close as possible. They are usually solitary animals and nocturnal hunters, but cooperative hunting has occasionally been observed, with rabbits being driven towards a waiting ambush or a pair of lynxes stalking from both sides of joint prey.
When varying hares (snowshoe rabbits) are scarce in the forest, the lynx (Felis lynx) extends its hunting grounds from the trees to the tundra. Like its prey, the lynx has broad feet with long hair that act like snow shoes, preventing it from sinking into the snow. The varying hare populations peak and fall over periods of several years. Lynx numbers follow suit, a year behind. Lynx will also take small rodents, ducks and ground dwelling birds, young deer, fish, and larger cattle, if they can be ambushed from above in winter when they are at a disadvantage in the snow or when they have sustained injury.
Both males and females go beyond their territories in the mating season, which may be as early as January, but more normally late February or early March. The breeding male makes a high pitched wail which ends in a softer moan, the female answers in a vibrato siren-like howl. 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 of age, 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.
Much of the forest has been cut from the eastern seacoast of the United States, but in places like the Acadia National Park, where the forest continues to the coast, the now eradicated lynx once lived in the park. Its cousin, the bobcat (F. rufus), still belongs to habitats south of the boreal realm.
Lynx hunting is still permitted in Canada where they continue to be exploited for their fur and for "sport" so that they are rapidly disappearing from parts of their range. Fewer than 800 lynx survive in the lower 48 states of the US; but, after a long wait, this rare, precious and beautiful animal is finally being recognized for protection under the Endangered Species Act.
Resources:
The Natural History of North America, Edward Ricciuti
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