Canada lynx facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Canada lynx
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Carnivora
Family:	Felidae
Genus:	Lynx
Species:	L. canadensis
Binomial name
Lynx canadensis Kerr, 1792
Canada lynx range

The Canada lynx (its scientific name is Lynx canadensis) is a fascinating wild cat that lives in the snowy forests of North America. It's known for its special adaptations that help it survive in cold places, like its big paws that work like snowshoes!

The Canada lynx is a medium-sized wild cat. It's one of four types of lynx species found around the world.

These cats are usually about 48 to 56 centimeters (about 19 to 22 inches) tall at the shoulder. They can weigh anywhere from 5 to 17 kilograms (about 11 to 37 pounds). They are also surprisingly good swimmers and can climb trees well, though they prefer to hunt on the ground.

The Canada lynx was first officially described by a scientist named Robert Kerr way back in 1792. Scientists used to think there might be different types (subspecies) based on where they lived, like in Newfoundland or Alaska, but most now agree that Canada lynxes are pretty similar everywhere they are found.

Where do they live?

Canada lynxes mostly live in the big, dense forests called boreal forests. These forests stretch across Alaska, Canada, and into some northern parts of the United States.

In the United States, you can find Canada lynxes in places like the mountains in the Pacific Northwest, the Rocky Mountains, the northern Great Lakes area (like Minnesota and Michigan), and northern New England (like Maine and New Hampshire).

In Colorado, where they had disappeared by the 1970s, scientists started bringing them back in 1999. This reintroduction effort was successful, and by 2010, there were self-sustaining populations in the south-central Colorado Rockies.

Canada lynxes like forests where there are lots of trees and places to hide. They don't usually like wide-open spaces or areas that have been heavily cut down, although they can live in forests that have started growing back for at least fifteen years. They can even be found high up in the mountains, sometimes over 4,300 meters (about 14,000 feet) high!

What do Canada lynxes look like?

Let's talk more about their cool features!

• Fur: They have long, thick fur that helps keep them warm in freezing temperatures. The fur is usually yellowish-brown, but it can look more greyish in winter, especially in places like Newfoundland. Their bellies are white and might have a few dark spots. The fur is shorter in the summer.
• Ears: Their triangular ears have black fur lining them and those famous black tufts, about 4 centimeters (1.6 inches) long, sticking up from the tips. The backs of their ears are brown with a silvery-grey spot.
• Paws: Their paws are one of their most special features. They are large and wide, covered in thick fur, and can spread out up to 10 centimeters (almost 4 inches) wide! This helps them walk on deep snow without sinking, just like wearing snowshoes. Their paws can support almost twice as much weight on snow compared to a bobcat's paws.
• Tail: They have a short, stubby tail, only about 5 to 13 centimeters (2 to 5 inches) long, with a completely black tip.
• Size: Males are usually bigger and heavier than females. An average male might weigh up to 17 kg (37 lb), but one really big male in Pennsylvania weighed 20 kg (44 lb)!
• Teeth: Canada lynxes have 28 teeth. They have four long, sharp canine teeth for grabbing and holding onto prey. They also have special teeth called carnassials that work like scissors to cut meat into small pieces. They have spaces between their canine teeth and the others, which helps them bite deeply into their food.

You can often tell a Canada lynx apart from its cousin, the bobcat, by its longer ear tufts, bigger paws, shorter tail with a fully black tip, longer legs, and its coat, which is usually greyer and has fewer spots than a bobcat's.

Behaviour

Canada lynxes are mostly active around sunset and at night, which is when their main food, the snowshoe hare, is also active. They can travel quite a bit each day, sometimes 8 to 9 kilometers (about 5 to 5.6 miles), looking for food.

They are generally solitary animals, meaning they like to be by themselves. The main times they interact are when mothers are raising their kittens and briefly during the mating season. Lynxes of the same sex usually try to avoid each other. They mark their areas by spraying urine and leaving droppings on things like tree stumps.

The size of a lynx's home area can be very different depending on things like how much food is available, how many other lynxes are around, and the type of forest. If there aren't many snowshoe hares, a lynx might need a much bigger area to find enough food. Males usually have larger home areas than females. Females' home areas get smaller when they have kittens to take care of and then go back to their normal size when the kittens are older.

Canada lynxes don't usually leave their home areas very often, but if there isn't enough food, they might travel long distances, sometimes over a thousand kilometers (more than 600 miles), to find a better place to live.

Diet

Canada lynxes are very picky eaters! Snowshoe hares make up most of their diet, sometimes as much as 97% of what they eat.

However, when the number of snowshoe hares goes down, Canada lynxes will eat other animals like ducks, squirrels, voles, and even young deer or caribou. They might eat a wider variety of food in the summer and fall.

How do they hunt?

Lynxes hunt mostly at night. They use their excellent eyesight and hearing to find prey. They often wait quietly on trails that hares use or in special hiding spots. When a hare comes close, the lynx pounces and kills it with a bite to the head, throat, or neck. Sometimes they have to chase the hare for a short distance. Their special vision helps them see prey and figure out how far away it is. Staying hidden helps them save energy in the cold. They might eat their meal right away or hide it in the snow or leaves to eat later.

Sometimes, lynxes might hunt together, especially if there aren't many hares around, but scientists have different ideas about whether hunting in groups is more successful than hunting alone. They also sometimes eat animals that have died from the cold or from being hit by cars.

Lynx-Hare Cycle

One of the most famous things about the Canada lynx is its close relationship with the snowshoe hare. The populations of snowshoe hares in places like Alaska and central Canada go up and down in a regular pattern, usually every eight to eleven years. When there are lots of hares, the lynx population also increases because there is plenty of food. When the number of hares drops, the lynx population also goes down. This is a classic example of a "prey-predator cycle."

When hare numbers are low, lynxes might move to find places with more hares, and female lynxes might not have kittens that year. As the hare population starts to grow again, the lynx population follows. Scientists have been able to track these cycles for a very long time using records from fur trading companies like the Hudson's Bay Company, going all the way back to the 1730s!

This cycle is influenced by how many hares there are (food for the lynx), how many predators (like lynxes and coyotes) are hunting the hares, and how the animals interact with each other. Things like forest fires or how much snow falls can also affect this cycle.

Reproduction

The mating season for Canada lynxes is usually about a month long, from March to early April. Males and females find each other using scent marks and calls. Females usually have kittens after being pregnant for two to three months.

A mother lynx will prepare a den before her kittens are born. This is usually a hidden spot in thick bushes, trees, or piles of wood.

A litter can have anywhere from one to eight kittens. Just like the adults, the number of kittens a mother has depends on how many snowshoe hares are available. If there aren't many hares, litters are usually smaller, and sadly, more kittens might not survive. When there are lots of hares, litters are bigger.

Newborn kittens are tiny, weighing only about 175 to 235 grams (about 6 to 8 ounces). They are born blind and can't see for about two weeks. They drink their mother's milk until they are about twelve weeks old. Most kittens are born between May and July.

Kittens start leaving the den when they are about five weeks old and begin learning to hunt when they are around seven to nine months old. They stay with their mother until the next mating season starts, usually around ten months old. Female kittens often stay in areas close to their mothers and might even stay in touch with them throughout their lives, while male kittens usually move far away.

Female lynxes can have kittens when they are about ten months old, but they often wait until they are a bit older. Males are ready to mate when they are two or three years old.

Lifespan

In the wild, Canada lynxes can live up to sixteen years, but many don't live past ten. In zoos or other protected places, they can live much longer, sometimes up to twenty-seven years!

Adaptations

Structural

The Canada lynx has several key structural adaptations that are perfectly suited for its life in the snow.

• Giant paws: These big paws act like natural snowshoes. When the lynx walks on snow, its weight is spread out over a larger area. This means it doesn't sink as deeply into the snow as other animals might. This adaptation is super important because the Canada lynx lives in areas with deep snow for much of the year. Being able to travel easily over snow allows it to hunt effectively and move around its territory without getting stuck or using too much energy.
• Thick, dense fur coat': This thick fur provides excellent insulation, trapping body heat close to the lynx's skin. This keeps the lynx warm even in extremely cold temperatures, which can drop far below freezing in its habitat.
• Long Legs:combined with their large paws, long legs help the lynx navigate deep snow. They allow the lynx to lift its body higher above the snow surface with each step. This makes moving through deep snow less tiring and more efficient, which is important for a predator that needs to cover a lot of ground to find food.
• Excellent Eyesight:Their large eyes gather a lot of light, allowing them to see well at dawn and dusk, which are often prime hunting times.

Behavioral

• Hunting strategy: The Canada lynx population size is strongly linked to the 8-11 year cycle of the snowshoe hare population. When hare numbers are high, lynx numbers tend to increase. When hare numbers crash (which happens naturally about every 8-11 years), the lynx population also declines because their main food source is scarce.
• Solitary nature:Living alone helps reduce competition for food within their territory. Each lynx needs a large area to find enough hares to eat.

Canada lynxes and people

People have interacted with Canada lynxes for a long time. In many parts of Alaska and Canada, people trap lynxes for their fur during specific times of the year. The number of lynxes that can be trapped is carefully managed based on how many lynxes are in the area.

The international trade in Canada lynx furs has gone up and down over the years, often following the natural ups and downs of the lynx population cycle. Even with trapping, the natural cycles of lynxes and hares haven't been significantly changed over the last hundred years.

Conservation

Overall, the Canada lynx is found in many places and there are lots of them across their whole range. Because of this, the main group that studies wildlife, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), lists the Canada lynx as "Least Concern," meaning they are not currently considered endangered or threatened globally.

However, in the southern parts of their range, like in the United States, their numbers are lower. In these areas, they are protected from being trapped for fur. Some places, like New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in Canada, list the lynx as Endangered.

In the United States, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) listed the Canada lynx as a "Threatened Species" in 14 states back in March 2000. This meant they needed special protection. The USFWS identified areas where they wanted to help the lynx population recover. As we mentioned, they were successfully brought back to Colorado.

In January 2018, the USFWS announced that the Canada lynx might not need these special protections anymore because efforts to help their populations seemed to be working. They were considering removing the "Threatened" status.

Scientists use different ways to study Canada lynxes and keep track of their numbers. They might follow their tracks in the snow, use radio collars to see where they go, or set up cameras that are triggered by scent to take pictures of them. They can also collect hair samples left by lynxes to study their genetics. These methods help scientists understand how the lynx populations are doing and how best to protect them.

Sometimes, scientists have tried to reintroduce lynxes into areas where they had disappeared. For example, between 1989 and 1992, scientists tried bringing 80 lynxes from Canada to New York State. Some of these lynxes traveled to other states and even back into Canada. However, this attempt wasn't successful in establishing a new population in New York, and sadly, many of the released lynxes died from things like traffic accidents or being mistaken for bobcats by hunters. Even though they are considered gone from New York now, they are still fully protected by state law there.

Images for kids

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  Fossils of the Issoire lynx (L. issiodorensis), which is thought to be the ancestor of the four modern Lynx species

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  Canada lynxes prefer dense boreal forests

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  Canada lynxes are typically solitary with minimal social bonds

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  The snowshoe hare is the primary prey of the Canada lynx

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  A Canada lynx stalking its prey

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  Numbers of snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus) (yellow background) and Canada lynx (black line, foreground) furs sold to the Hudson's Bay Company from 1845 to 1935

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  A mother and kitten

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  Fur of a Canada lynx

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  Illustration of a canadian lynx made around mid-18th century.

See also

In Spanish: Lince de Canadá para niños