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Lynx canadensis
– Least Concern
Taxonomy
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Kingdom:
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ANIMALIA
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Phylum:
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CHORDATA
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Class:
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MAMMALIA
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Order:
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CARNIVORA
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Family:
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FELIDAE
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Scientific Name:
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Lynx canadensis
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Species Authority:
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Kerr, 1792
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Common Name/s:
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AMERICAN LYNX (Eng)
CANADA LYNX (Eng)
LYNX DU CANADA (Fre)
LINCE DEL CANADÁ (Spa)
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Assessment Information
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Red List Category & Criteria:
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LC ver 3.1 (2001)
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Year Assessed:
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2002
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Assessor/s:
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Cat Specialist Group
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Evaluator/s:
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Nowell, K., Breitenmoser, U., Breitenmoser, C. & Jackson, P. (Cat Red List Authority)
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Justification:
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Based on estimates of density and geographic range (Nowell and Jackson 1996), the Canada lynx’s total effective population size is estimated at greater than 50,000 mature breeding individuals, but with a declining trend due to persecution and degradation of its habitat and prey base.
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History:
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| 1996 | - | Lower Risk/least concern (Baillie and Groombridge 1996) |
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Geographic Range
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Range Description:
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The Canada lynx is distributed throughout the broad boreal forest belt of North America and south into the American Rocky Mountains (Nowell and Jackson 1996). Its range is coincident with that of their main prey, the snowshoe hare Lepus americanus. The historic range is largely intact, although it has shrunk in the south due to human settlement and forest clearance. The Canada lynx is primarily found in Canada.
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Countries:
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Native:
Canada; United States
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Population
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Population:
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US populations are small and threatened. Lynx were reintroduced apparently unsuccessfully in northern New York state in the late 1980s, and more recently, apparently successfully, in Colorado.
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Population Trend:
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Habitat and Ecology
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Habitat and Ecology:
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Canada lynx are closely tied to their main prey species, the snowshoe hare. The lynx-hare cycle was first discovered from harvest records of the Hudson’s Bay Company dating back to the early 1800's. Numbers of snowshoe hares peak approximately every ten years, and lynx numbers follow the same pattern with a short lag, typically 1-2 years. While the populations of many prey and predator species are cyclic and roughly synchronous in the northern latitudes, the hare-lynx correlation is particularly close. Lynx predation on hares is one factor driving the cycle, as is fluctuations in the hares’ food supply (Nowell and Jackson 1996).
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System:
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Terrestrial; Freshwater; Marine
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Threats
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Threats:
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The Canada lynx is legally trapped for the fur trade in Canada. While biological knowledge and management resources for the Canada lynx far outstrip those of any other felid range state, they are still not sufficient to yield the information needed to guarantee that harvests of sustainable – reliable periodic population estimates and indices of lynx abundance. In the contiguous US, snowshoe hare are less abundant and lynx are more scarce, and vulnerable to a variety of human-induced mortality factors. For example, recreational use of national forests compacts snow along trails, favoring predators that compete with the lynx for prey and territory Ruediger et al. 2000).
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Conservation Actions
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Conservation Actions:
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Included on CITES Appendix II. In Canada, trapping is regulated through closed seasons, quotas, limited entry and long-term trapping concessions (Nowell and Jackson 1996). In the US, trapping is only permitted by law in Montana and Oregon, although at present regulators have not allowed recent harvests there (Ruediger et al. 2000).
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