Canadian lynx (14 photos)

Heavy snowfalls are common in Canada's northern and majestic forests. Immediately afterward, herbivores find themselves in great danger. While they struggle to navigate the snowdrifts, exhausted, dangerous predators emerge to hunt.





Like other cats, the Canadian lynx has an innate ability to lie majestically.

Like fairytale elves, Canadian lynxes glide silently across the fresh snow, barely disturbing it. But their intentions are far from fairy-tale—the animals have come out to get some fresh meat.



Look at those snowshoes!

A Canadian lynx needs to consume up to 1.2 kilograms of meat per day, and to satisfy its hunger, the animal is capable of great lengths. For example, it can swim up to 3 kilometers at a time or walk 9 kilometers a day through deep snow. It will do anything to get its hands on a snowshoe hare. After all, snowshoes aren't just easy prey; they're the mainstay of the wild cat's diet, accounting for up to 97% of all animals it catches. The Canadian lynx specializes in hunting hares and knows their habits like no other animal on the planet.





Camouflage didn't work.

Instead of tracking them by scent, like a fox, or pursuing them tediously, like a wolf, the lynx takes a much more sophisticated approach. At night, when hares are most active, it lies in wait near one of the hare trails. It simply waits until the hare gets close enough. Then it overtakes it in a few leaps.



You're not a hare. Move on.

Of course, it will try to run. Hares have excellent reflexes, bordering on paranoia, and extremely fast legs. But over short distances, a lynx can also be incredibly fast. And, unlike its prey, it doesn't sink into the snow.



It defeated the laws of physics without even knowing them.

The Canadian lynx's paws are naturally quite wide, and in winter they develop a dense fur pad, further increasing the surface area of ​​the foot. As a result, the width can reach 10 centimeters, which is even wider than a human foot! A lynx has four of these paws, and it weighs only 6 to 20 kilograms. Therefore, where a hare would sink up to its ears, a lynx will walk right across the snow and deliver a fatal bite to the base of the skull.



A paw print of a Canadian lynx and a human hand. Feel the difference.



A huge paw! It looks like the owner is at least a lion, but no, it's a typical lynx paw in winter.

Generally speaking, snowy winters are the best time of year for the Canadian lynx. It eats well and can even skip a hunt or two thanks to its food supply. However, its specialization on hares is both a blessing and a curse.



The hardest thing in winter is finding pants that are not only warm but also flattering!

Hares are creatures that prioritize quantity over quality. They have short lifespans and are quite vulnerable, but they reproduce very quickly, and a 90% population loss is normal for them. For them, but not for lynxes. Every 8-11 years, when the hare population drops to critical levels, lynxes begin to starve. Initially, the cats migrate to areas where hares are still abundant, thereby reducing their numbers there. Then they feed on carrion and try to hunt all sorts of small animals, like squirrels, voles, and weasels. But small animals are too fast for such a large cat, and they contain little meat. Bears and wolves easily chase them away from carrion—the lynxes don't stand a chance here.



Lynxes' hind legs are much longer than their front legs. This allows them to make long, powerful leaps, but their butt is always higher than their head.



What a sweet little ham!

Food shortages lead to a decline in the hare population, followed by a decline in the cat population. While not as dramatic, around 50-60% of the population dies, that's still a significant number. And the decline isn't just due to starvation. Young females, living a semi-starved existence, also take their time reproducing and raise significantly fewer cubs. They even skip the mating season entirely to increase their chances of survival.



We refuse to reproduce until we have a three-room apartment in Moscow and an endless supply of hares!

And they don't reproduce very quickly anyway. Lynxes' mating season is short, lasting about a month—those who don't make it are gone until next year. During this time, males and females patrol the boundaries of their hunting grounds, squawking loudly and arguing with their peers. When they finally find each other, the animals quickly do their business and scatter to their separate corners. The male will take no part in raising the offspring.



Lynxes are in hiding. Or unconscious...

Lynxes' pregnancy is short, lasting only two months, but caring for the offspring is lengthy. For the first two weeks, kittens are completely blind and defenseless; for the first 12 weeks, they depend on their mother's milk. And for another four months after they transition to a meat diet, the cubs still rely on their mother's hunting skills.



Chipped lynx cubs hiss in fear at the scientists.

They begin to learn to hunt at around seven months of age and leave their mother 10-11 months after birth, so there's a good chance the mother simply won't have time to send her cubs off to find their own way before the new mating season begins. And the babies won't be ready to become parents for at least another year, if not three.



Little ones out for a walk. Risking their lives, by the way!

Therefore, at a time of sharp decline in numbers, Canadian lynxes are extremely vulnerable to human influence. If Canadians and Americans overdo it with hunting or deforestation, these beautiful lynxes will instantly become a vulnerable species, unable to recover their numbers.