Connecting the Lynx - Alex Schindler

Connecting the Lynx

Alex Schindler

The Canadian Lynx, (Lynx canadensis) is a medium-sized cat that can weigh between 18 – 24 lbs, and have a height of approximately 2 feet.  Its main characteristic is its long facial hair that resembles a beard, a dense silvery-brown fluffy coat with blackish markings, and has a short tail with a completely black tip.   Some researchers believe that the black tufts of hair at the tops of their ears act as vibration sensors, thereby further enhancing their already extraordinary hearing.  Their eyes are also astounding, and it is no mere coincidence that “lynx” means brightness and light; the

average Lynx can spot a mouse at 250 feet away and some people believe that lynxes can see through things!   It has thick, large paws that act like snowshoes which are extremely helpful in their harsh snow paved environment because it helps support their weight on the snow.  Canadian Lynxes are found in the region from Alaska to Canada, and in most northern U.S. states, with moist, boreal forests that have cold, snowy winters and a high density of the lynx’s favorite prey: the snowshoe hare.  The Canadian lynx’s diet consists of 70%-95% snowshoe hares, which is their main motivation for migration.  A lynx kills, on average, one hare every other night.  Only if hares become scarce does the lynx turn to killing rodents and other prey.  Lynx are not fast runners, but they are stealth and ambush their prey.  The cycle of the Lynx following the hares was first recorded by the harvest records from the Hudson’s Bay Company in the early 1800s.  Due to the Lynx’s’ dependency on the snowshoe hare, the Lynx constantly moves within a range between 2300km^2 all the way down to 12km^2.  This wide range is no place for a large group which is why in many cases the Lynx travels and hunts alone with an emphasis on hunting prey at night.  Though the forests of Canada are a known habitat for the Canadian Lynx, they have also been documented in the U.S. into the northern and southern Rocky Mountains, the Great Lakes states and the Northeast.  Today, in the lower-48 states, they are known to have sustained breeding populations in Montana, Washington, Maine, and Minnesota and have been reintroduced to Colorado. Unfortunately, however, the Canadian Lynx is threatened by a number of factors, the first and foremost being trapping, which is the main reason why they have gradually disappeared from the contiguous U.S.  Lynx have always been valued highly by trappers for their thick, soft fur — and lynx populations have declined with that hunting pressure. In the 1970s and 1980s, the price for hides reached as much as $600 each.   In response to concerns about over-harvest during the cyclic low of the lynx-hare cycle in the 1980s, most Canadian provinces and Alaska implemented management measures which led to reduced harvests.  Their habitat was also impacted by years of timber management without any help from federal funding to conserve their species. Also, logging, road-building and high traffic, high-volume housing developments, resource extraction such as oil drilling and mining have devastated their habitat.   In the early 1980s, an average of 35,669 Canada lynx pelts were exported from the US and Canada.  In the late 1980s, that number decreased to an average annual export of 7,360.  In the 1990s there was a petition to list the Canada lynx as an endangered species, but it was denied in Washington D.C.   After years of battling the federal government for support, on March 24, 2000, FWS (the Fish and Wildlife Service) finally listed the lynx as a threatened species in the lower 48 states.  To complete the recovery process of the Canadian lynx, multiple recovery actions must be implemented. First, there must be management commitments established in the Canadian lynx’s core areas.  There must also be a constant monitoring of the lynx’s population trends and migration patterns.  Habitat preservation and population limiting factors are key factors in the success of the recovery plan.  Biologists have confirmed that breeding populations of lynx exist today in Canada, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho, although some believe that they are present in other U.S. states as well.

Sources

"Recovery Plan Search." FWS. Fws.gov, 25 June 2013. Web. 5 Mar. 2015. <http://www.fws.gov/endangered/species/recovery-plans.html>.

"Candian Lynx." Nwf.org. National Wildlife Organization, 1 Apr. 2010. Web. 10 Mar. 2015. <http://www.nwf.org/wildlife/wildlife-library/mammals/canada-lynx.aspx>.

"Canadian Lynx." Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org, 11 Mar. 2015. Web. 12 Mar. 2015. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada_lynx>.