Mammals
Canada Lynx
Lynx canadensis · also called Canada lynxes
Padding silently across deep boreal snow on oversized, furry paws, a Canada lynx tracks a snowshoe hare, a predator whose entire population rises and falls in lockstep with the fortunes of this single prey species it depends on so heavily.
Overview
The Canada lynx, Lynx canadensis, is a snow-adapted predator native to boreal forest habitat across a broad range of Canada and Alaska, extending into the northernmost parts of the contiguous United States. Its oversized snowshoe-like paws, tightly cyclical population dynamics tied to snowshoe hare abundance, and strong specialisation for dense boreal forest make it one of the more ecologically distinctive wild cats found in North America.
A predator whose fate is tied to one species
Few predators depend as completely on a single prey species as the Canada lynx, whose own numbers rise and fall almost in mirror image of the snowshoe hare population cycles it has evolved so closely alongside.
Status
Least Concern, widespread across suitable boreal forest habitat throughout Canada and Alaska, with population numbers naturally cycling in close step with snowshoe hare abundance.
Canada Lynx: common questions
Why does the Canada lynx population rise and fall so predictably?
This species relies overwhelmingly on snowshoe hares as its primary prey, and because hare populations themselves rise and fall in well-documented multi-year boom-and-bust cycles, lynx numbers track those same cycles closely, making the relationship one of the best-studied predator-prey cycles in all of ecology.
How does the Canada lynx move so efficiently through deep snow?
This species has unusually large, furry paws that function much like natural snowshoes, distributing its body weight effectively across the surface of deep snow, allowing it to pursue snowshoe hares through terrain that would slow down many other predators considerably.
How can you tell a Canada lynx apart from a bobcat?
Look for prominent black ear tufts and a short tail with a solid black tip on the Canada lynx, compared with the bobcat's smaller ear tufts and a shorter, black-tipped-but-not-solid tail, along with the Canada lynx's stronger association with dense boreal forest rather than the bobcat's much broader habitat tolerance.
Is the Canada lynx picky about what it eats?
Yes, relative to the bobcat, this species relies far more heavily on a single prey species, the snowshoe hare, making it considerably more vulnerable to fluctuations in hare abundance than the more broadly omnivorous bobcat, which readily switches between a wider range of prey.