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Canada lynx look similar to bobcats, but there are some distinguishing features: bobcats have shorter tufts on their ears, the tip of their tail is black on top and white underneath, and bobcats have shorter legs and smaller feet than lynx.
Perhaps the biggest distinction is that lynx mostly occur only in northern states along the Canadian border or in mountainous regions, while bobcats range across almost the entire Lower 48 states. Lynx, like other forest hunters, play an important ecological role. As a mid-size carnivore, lynx target smaller prey species that reproduce relatively quickly. They also require a mixed habitat that includes younger forests with thick vegetation for hunting small prey, and older forests with a full canopy and good cover for denning.
The lynx’s most important requirements — snow, space, hares, and habitat connectivity — are threatened by climate change and various human activities.
The FWS has proposed delisting the Canada lynx.
Defenders' Impact
In 2000, in response to Defenders’ petition and litigation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) listed the lynx as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). This listing provided lynx with many protections and much needed attention, helped support research and monitoring of lynx populations across the lower 48 states, and stopped lynx trapping in Montana.
Defenders also supported the Colorado Division of Wildlife as they reintroduced lynx to core habitat in the southern Rocky Mountains.
You can be a part of the solution for endangered species: support our efforts to protect the wild!
What You Can Do
Reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change. Join one of our citizen science monitoring programs to help gather information about mesocarnivores.
Do your part to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change. Support Defenders work in the lower 48.
About
Lynx are generally found in moist, boreal forests that have cold, snowy winters and a high density of their favorite prey: the snowshoe hare. Lynx can be found throughout much of the boreal forest of Alaska and Canada. Today, in the Lower 48 they are known to have sustained breeding populations in Montana, Washington, Maine, and Minnesota and have been reintroduced to Colorado.
It is difficult to have an accurate estimate, but in the lower 48, lynx populations can currently be generalized as quite low and substantially reduced from historical levels.
Generally solitary animals, lynx usually hunt and travel alone, and are slightly more active at night than by day. Lynx hunt by actively walking, flushing and chasing prey, and by using resting or hunting beds to wait for prey to come close, and then giving chase.
Lynx do not create a den site – they locate their kittens under an existing feature, such as a downed log, root system, or simple ground depression surrounded by dense vegetation. Kittens stay with their mother for the first year while they learn to hunt. Yearling females may give birth during periods when hares are abundant. While mothers have an average of 4 kittens when there is a periodic abundance of snowshoe hares, they have smaller litters the rest of the time, when fewer hares are available.
Mating Season: March and April
Gestation: 63-70 days
Litter Size: 1 - 5 kittens
Lynx are specialized hunters that target snowshoe hare, which make up the bulk of their diet. Lynx are also known to occasionally eat mice, voles, grouse, ptarmigan, red squirrel and carrion.
Featured
The Canada Lynx: Not Only Found In Canada
Despite its name, the Canada lynx can be found in several parts of the lower 48 United States. Ellen Richmond joins us to talk about where the Canada lynx can be found, why it’s threatened, and how Defenders is fighting for its future.
News
New Forest Service Rulemaking Must Address the Threats of Climate Change
Canada Lynx Blog Posts
Wildlife and Wild Places
