Lynx canadensis

The Canadian lynx has a head-body length of 76-106 cm, a shoulder height of 48-56 cm, a tail length of 5-12 cm, and a weight of 5-17 kg. The male is larger than the female, and looks very similar to the Eurasian lynx. The fur is dense, silver-brown, and the tips of the hair are usually white, as if covered with a layer of frost, and the spots on the body are faintly visible. Sometimes with black spots. The color of the hair is often reddish brown or gray, and the color of the hair in summer is more reddish brown. Occasionally, you can see "blue lynx" caused by genetic mutations. The ears are large, with long black tufts on the tips of the ears, and a circle of protruding beard-like neck hair under the face. The tail is very short, with a black tip. In order to adapt to life in the snow, the Canadian lynx has long legs and large paws. The wide paws are covered with fluff, like snow shoes, which can not only support its weight, but also help it walk on the snow. The Newfoundlan

The Canadian lynx lives in the vast forest areas of North America, including Canada, Alaska, and the northern states of the United States (Washington, Oregon, Iowa, and the southern part of Montana). In addition, the Canadian lynx living on the island of Newfoundland is also one of their subspecies.
The Canadian lynx is a cold-loving animal, and its habitat is extremely diverse, ranging from subarctic coniferous forests, cold temperate coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forests to alpine meadows, alpine grasslands, alpine shrub grasslands, and alpine deserts and semi-deserts. Their habitat altitude can range from plains with an altitude of hundreds of meters to plateaus of about 5,000 meters. It lives in forest shrub areas, dense forests and rocks. It mainly lives in coniferous forests and high mountains in Canada and northern United States.

Canada Lynx (scientific name: Lynx canadensis) is also known as Canada Lynx in foreign languages. There are three subspecies.

Canada Lynx is a solitary animal that is very secretive. It usually moves at night and has a large activity area. It is a nocturnal hunter without a fixed nest. During the day, it can lie on rocks to bask in the sun, or quietly hide under a big tree to avoid wind and rain. It can stay alone in an area of several hectares for several days without moving, or it can run continuously for more than ten kilometers without stopping. It is good at climbing and swimming, and has strong hunger tolerance. It can stay still in one place for several days, not afraid of severe cold, and is active frequently at dawn and dusk. The range of activities depends on the abundance of food. It has territorial behavior and fixed excretion places. It can stay alone in an area of several hectares for several days without moving, or it can run continuously for more than ten kilometers without stopping. Adult lynxes have their own territories. The territories of females sometimes intersect with those of males, but the territories of males are separated.

The Canadian lynx is cunning and cautious. When in danger, it will quickly escape to a tree to hide, and sometimes lie on the ground and pretend to be dead to avoid the enemy's attack and harm. In nature, large beasts such as tigers, leopards, snow leopards, and bears are the natural enemies of lynx. If it encounters a wolf pack, it will be chased and surrounded and killed, and it is generally difficult to escape. It is nocturnal, moves secretly, has well-developed hearing and vision, and can swim.

The main food of the Canadian lynx is snow hares and other wild rabbits, so in many places the population of lynx will fluctuate with the increase or decrease of the number of wild rabbits, and there will be a peak every 9-10 years. In addition to hares, it preys on many other prey, including various squirrels, wild mice, lemmings, marmots, ptarmigans, quails, wild pigeons, pheasants and other birds. When catching prey, it often uses grass, bushes, stones, trees and other places as cover, and waits in ambush where the prey often passes by, watching the movements around with vigilant eyes. It has excellent endurance and can lie quietly in one place for several days and nights, and only rush out unexpectedly to capture the prey when the prey approaches. If the prey is missed and the assault fails, it will not chase the prey, but return to the original place and patiently wait for the next opportunity. Sometimes it also roams quietly, and when it sees the prey is concentrating on eating, it sneaks up, sneaks up again, and pounces on it unexpectedly, making the prey inexplicably surrender. It is also good at swimming, but it does not go into the water easily. It is also an excellent climber, and its ability to climb trees is very high. It can even jump from one tree to another, so it can prey on birds in the trees, especially at night, when the forest is silent and the birds living in the trees are asleep, and then it stretches out its claws to hunt for food with ease. It mainly relies on hearing and vision to determine the location of prey. In many areas, they only prey on American rabbits (snowshoe rabbits). The food chain of the Canadian lynx is quite simple, which is very rare for cats. Because of its dependence on snow hares, the number of snow hares directly affects the population of Canadian lynx. The number of snow hares will reach a peak every 10 years, and the number of Canadian lynx will also increase. And vice versa.

Canadian lynx mate in spring from February to April, and their nests are mostly built in rock crevices, caves or tree holes. The gestation period is 63-79 days, and there are 1-5 cubs per litter. The number generally depends on the abundance of food. The cubs weigh 198-212 grams at birth, open their eyes around 10-17 days, and learn to walk around 24-30 days. They are completely weaned after about 3-5 months, but start eating meat at about 1 month old. They stay with their mothers for the first year after birth and usually leave their mothers in the second year. The cubs that leave their mothers sometimes continue to live together for several weeks or even months in order to survive. Females reach reproductive maturity at 20-24 months, and males at 30-34 months. The lifespan of lynx in the wild is about 12-15 years. In captivity, they can live for 24 years.

The biggest threat to the Canada lynx remains humans. Dangerous traps, destruction of their habitat, and continued encroachment all have serious consequences for the survival of this creature. Another major threat is the killing of their food source by humans. According to the sales of hunting licenses and slaughter reports, people kill 11 million rabbits every year (this is only in North America). Because of this, the number of snow hares, which is the main food source of the Canada lynx, has dropped sharply. In addition, the fur trade to meet the needs of some people is also an important reason for their killing.

In Canada, due to the fur trade, the Canada lynx is endangered in New Brunswick and extinct in Prince Edward Island. In Alaska, the United States, Canada lynx is abundant. Reintroduction in upstate New York in the late 1980s was obviously unsuccessful, but it was successfully introduced in Colorado in 2002.

Listed in the 2016 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species Ver 3.1 - Least Concern (LC).

Listed in the CITES II Class of Protected Animals of the Washington Convention.

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