Bio227:5: Links to the Threatened Canadian Lynx

Canadian Lynx (Lynx Canadensis)

by Sarah Kallies

http://news.mongabay.com/2011/0831-hance_wolf_lynx.html

Background Information:

The Canadian Lynx, a North American mammal part of cat family, has been listed as a threatened species since March 24, 2000. These cute and fluffy felines can grow to be 30-35 inches in length and can weigh 18-23 pounds. Their dense grey and brown furs keep them warm during the cold winters and their long legs and large paws are wonderfully engineered for hunting and roaming through the thick snow. They may be mistaken as bobcats when seen because of their similar sizes, however, the Canadian Lynx are distinctly recognizable by their short, black tipped tails, fluff around their necks, and by their black tufted ears. Canadian Lynx are mostly nocturnal; however, it is not unheard of to see some wondering during the day. Their primary source of food is the snowshoe hare, however, when snowshoe hares are scarce, they will hunt rodents, birds, and other animals.

Canadian Lynx are located throughout the northern part of North America and have been found in 14 American states including Colorado, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Montana, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. Areas with the strongest long-term evidence of the persistence of lynx populations within the contiguous United States are defined as core areas according to the Canadian Lynx Recovery Outline. Although they are known to be very secretive and hidden creatures, enough information has been gathered in order to draft a recovery plan in order to better protect these beautiful animals.

http://www.ldjackson.net/sunday-hunt-for-links-canada-lynx-edition/

Reasons for Being Threatened:

A boreal forest containing a large population of snowshoe hares and an abundance of thick snow is a Canadian Lynx’s ideal habitat. Because they are so habitat specific, many things are causing them to be threatened. First off, the primary food source for the Canadian lynx is the snowshoe hare, as mentioned before. Therefore, the population of Canadian lynx is suspected to directly correlate with the population of snowshoe hare. Another listed factor is global warming. The change in temperatures leads to less snow for the lynx to make a home out off. Other threats include recreational activities and timber harvesting activities such as the construction of roads and pre-commercial thinning. Canadian Lynx are more reserved, and when they see that more people are coming into their habitat, they will feel threatened and leave. Lastly, an obvious threat to the Canadian lynx is trapping for their fur. Restrictions on trapping lynx have been placed in different states during the 1980’s, however trapping still continues to occur in Canada. With this being a threat, we see less emigration from Canada to USA’s core areas.

http://kaufmanfurs.net/index.php?page_id=12&slider=1

Recovery Outline:

The four objectives for protecting Canadian lynx are: 1) Retain adequate habitat quality to support long-term persistence of their populations in all of the core areas, 2) Ensure the long-term persistence of immigration and emigration between each core area and other populations, 3) Ensure secondary areas (population areas other than the core areas) remain available, and 4) Ensure that all of the threats have been addressed. In order to obtain these objectives we need to commit to managing the core areas, whether they are on private land or federal land, we need to keep track of the lynx in each core area, identify the lynx movements between populations, identify any limiting factors to the lynx’s success in the USA, and lastly, develop a post-delisting monitoring plan so that we can make sure that the lynx do not become threatened again. Although the recovery plan for the Canadian lynx is just a draft, a lot has been discovered about these awesome cats in order to help protect them since they were listed in 2000.