Details
Lynx canadensis
Canada lynx is a northern forest cat with broad snowshoe-like feet and a strong link to snowshoe hares. Its reliance on extensive snowy forest makes logging patterns and climate change important concerns.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
It lives in boreal and conifer forest across Canada, Alaska, and parts of the northern United States. Main habitat types in this guide are forest, polar.
Typical length 76-106 cm, weight 5 kg-17 kg. Long legs, huge paws, a short tail, and black ear tufts suit travel over deep snow.
It is nocturnal and usually solitary. It moves quietly through snow and hunts around young forest and fallen timber.
It is carnivorous. Snowshoe hares dominate, and lynx reproduction and movements often track hare cycles.
Females den under fallen trees or dense cover and raise the kittens alone.
Although still widespread in places, it remains sensitive to habitat change. Its reliance on extensive snowy forest makes logging patterns and climate change important concerns.
