A cat designed for snow country

by Bob Bancroft

My first encounter with a lynx, Lynx canadensis, was a tad unnerving. After starting school in the Yukon, my parents began to let me “free-range” in the wild near home. So began an outdoor education. One afternoon, while gingerly negotiating my way across a rickety, log foot-bridge over a wide stream, I looked up to see a lynx walking directly towards me.

Turning back would hardly have improved the situation, so I kept moving forward. So did the lynx. We met mid-stream, on the logs, and the big cat padded by me, head down, as if I did not exist, making for the shore behind. 

One remembers such early experiences. There was also quicksand, a grizzly bear… but I digress. The freedom to explore and the nature education my parents fostered in me as a youngster became a powerful dimension in my adult life. To this day, I feel more alive and at home in the woods. Nowadays, sadly, a rural kid isn’t allowed off a school bus unless an adult is waiting to walk the kid up the driveway.

Native to North America, Canada lynx range from Newfoundland to the Rockies and Alaska, and as far south as New Mexico. Their stronghold lies in northern boreal forests. Absent in PEI, endangered in Nova Scotia, this cat is almost as elusive as a sasquatch. There’s been a bit of a resurgence in New Brunswick, particularly in the north. In Newfoundland and Labrador numbers fluctuate wildly in response to snowshoe hare populations. Researchers in the lower 48 states have had difficulty monitoring lynx population levels.

Males are larger than females, measuring up to a metre in length, while their weights range, on average, from five to 15 kilograms. Their beautiful fur is brownish-grey. They’re taller and about twice the weight of an average house cat. If a lynx lives a full lifespan of five to 10 years, the size of their home territory can vary greatly, depending on factors such as availability of prey, other lynx in the area and the topography of the habitat.

Lynx and bobcats are similar at a glance and, where their ranges overlap in southern Canada, one needs to look carefully to discern the differences. Both have stubby tails and forelimbs shorter than their hind legs, so they look a bit jacked up in the rear. Both species have retractable claws—a cat family feature that keeps them sheathed and razor sharp until needed. It also makes cat tracks easier to compare to those of coyotes and dogs, which have claws always extended.

In winter, hair on the lower cheeks of a lynx grows long, forming a prominent ruff. Lynx also have pointed ears tipped with long black hairs, and oversized feet. Bobcats have no beard, smaller ear tufts and feet, shorter legs and a coat more reddish than grey.

Lynx and snowshoe hares have thick hair cushions on the soles of their very large feet, making excellent snowshoes. This enables them to traverse deep snow. It also means that lynx tracks can be confused with those of cougars. Lacking such huge feet, bobcats cannot move efficiently over deep snow.

Whenever lynx and bobcats meet face to face, bobcats are more aggressive and tend to drive the lynx away. Where their ranges overlap, deep snow areas become sanctuaries for lynx, like in the Cape Breton Highlands. There they avoid bobcat fights and encounter less competition for food. 

Lynx are carnivores. Their specialty is snowshoe hares, commonly called “rabbits” in Atlantic Canada. Hares and lynx both inhabit brushy woodlands with plenty of cover. Lynx are solitary, silent night hunters that usually appear about two hours before dark, and remain active throughout the night until an hour after sunrise. They use sight and sound, and hunt by ambush, with an explosive burst of speed for a short pursuit. If an attack doesn’t succeed quickly, they usually end the chase and wait for another opportunity.  

When hares are plentiful, they can make up as much as 97 per cent of a lynx’s diet. During such times each lynx consumes about one hare every two or three days and their population increases. When hare populations nosedive, lynx become hungry and vulnerable. Many have challenges switching to alternate food sources like mice, squirrels, ducks, grouse, foxes, skunks, white-tailed deer and moose calves. Lynx populations normally plummet shortly after hares become scarce. During such times females produce smaller litters or successfully rear very few young. During tough times juveniles on their own may die of malnutrition. Starving adult lynx begin to wander wide areas searching for food. That’s when it’s likely to see them on Nova Scotia’s mainland. Despite their reputation as solitary animals, in difficult times several individuals may travel and hunt together.

Lynx travel in pairs during March and April, their breeding season. Back in northwestern Canada, I recall rounding a bend and accidentally cornering a pair of lynx in front of a bank of crumbling shale. Growling and hissing erupted. I backed off quickly.

After mating, the female locates a well-hidden den site under brush, windfalls or fallen logs. In May or June she gives birth to two to five kittens. Weaned at about 12 weeks, they begin hunting with their mother. The kittens stay with her throughout winter until the next breeding season. During that time they go from carousing and chasing hares to stalking and killing them.

Trappers are the main predators of this species. When fur prices are high, lynx pelts can sell for $450 to $500. Prices like that unfortunately spark a rush of new and part-time trappers.

Other than humans, occasional natural predators of the lynx include wolves, coyotes, cougars and large birds of prey like eagles. When confronted in the forest, lynx can easily climb trees to avoid wolves or coyotes.

I’ve only watched a lynx once when it had no idea I was there. It happened on a slightly overcast, winter day in a game sanctuary in Nova Scotia. The snow was deep. The lynx came up on to a fallen log and stretched. Walking along the log, a common feline behaviour, it ran a short distance and began rubbing and scratching its head on a stump. Then it proceeded to jump high up in the air repeatedly, as if its four legs were giant springs. What a treat to see! Finally it stopped, and ambled off.  

Climate change likely means that southern boundaries of lynx populations will extend northward. The more adaptable and opportunistic bobcat could easily replace them.  

 

Intro credit: Dave Tilley
Intro Caption:   An adult lynx, showing its black-tipped, pointed ears, and neck ruff.

Header Credit: bigstock/ hkuchera
Header caption: Once lynx kittens reach twelve weeks of age, they begin hunting with their mother.