Shannon O'Hehir's Blog: The Canada Lynx

Born and raised in St. Paul, Minnesota, I was more of a hockey fan than basketball. Although that fact didn't prevent my grandma from getting me a Minnesota Lynx jersey for my eighth birthday. The Lynx are the resident women's basketball team in my hometown. Prior to receiving that gift, I hadn't even known lynxes existed.

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Fast forward about 15 years to today. I've recently become aware that the lynx are much more than a basketball team mascot. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) has placed the Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis) on the endangered species list and their current status is "threatened." This is very unfortunate news for this lovable wild cat.

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Description

Canada lynx are medium-sized wild cats, weighing about 20 pounds and measuring 30-35 inches long. Their large feet enable them to traverse snowy terrain and hunt their main source of prey, the snowshoe hare. As seen in the picture below, the Canada lynx have a dense, silver-brown coat, black tufted ears and yellow-hazel eyes.

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Ecology

Lynx can be found in a widely distributed range across Canada, Alaska, and certain parts of the contiguous United States (including the Rockies, the Northeast, and the Great Lakes). The lynx inhabits a particular type of ecosystem known as the boreal forest. Boreal forests are characterized by long, harsh winters and short, dry summers. The tree canopy within boreal forests is dominated by pine, fir, larch, spruce, birch and aspen trees. This ecosystem type is opportune for the lynx, especially when it supports high densities of snowshoe hare.

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Population Dynamics

Not only do lynx require boreal forests and large populations of snowshoe hare to survive but they also need large expanses of forest with deep snow (greater than 106 inches per year) due to their ranging, mobile lifestyle. The FWS has observed that lynx populations in the United States are influenced by population dynamics in Canada. Because Canada is a source of lynx emigration into the US, it is important to maintain connectivity between Canada and the United States to ensure long-term persistence of the lynx.

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Listing Date and Type

The FWS placed the Canada lynx on the endangered species list as "threatened" on March 24th, 2000. The main threats to the continued existence of the lynx are timber harvest and recreation. Proper forest management measures had not been enforced in the past, allowing pre-commercial thinning and fire suppression to take place throughout core areas of lynx habitat. Additional factors negatively affecting the lynx include accidental lynx trapping where legal trapping of bobcat, coyote and wolverine exist and high volume traffic on roads which divide lynx habitat.

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Recovery Plan

The recovery plan produced by the FWS revolves around protecting areas of core habitat for the Canada lynx. This involves establishing federal management practices and working with key state and private managers to ensure adequate quality and quantity of habitat. Additionally, the FWS plans to monitor changes in lynx population and distribution to understand where to facilitate movement broadly between core habitat areas. Identifying limiting factors and trends will help the FWS ensure that they are appropriately managing boreal forest conditions for lynx well-being. 

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What can you do?

It's not just up to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to protect the Canada lynx. We can help save the lynx too! By doing a simple google search, I found the Defenders of Wildlife. They are committed to restoring wildlife across the globe, both through grassroots and governmental activism. We can help by donating monetarily and "adopting" a lynx to further conservation efforts. Or we can donate time and send a message to government leaders through the Defenders of Wildlife website. Please join the effort and help save the Canada lynx!

Sources

1. Yale University. Boreal Forest Ecology | Global Forest Atlas, globalforestatlas.yale.edu/boreal-forest/boreal-ecoregions-ecology/boreal-forest-ecology.

2. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Listed Species Believed to or Known to Occur in Minnesota, ecos.fws.gov/ecp0/reports/species-listed-by-state-report?state=MN&status=listed.

3. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Recovery Outline.http://ecos.fws.gov/docs/recovery_plan/final%20draft%20Lynx%20Recovery%20Outline%209-05.pdf.

4. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Species Profile for Canada Lynx (Lynx canadensis). ecos.fws.gov/ecp0/profile/speciesProfile?spcode=A073. 5. Defenders of Wildlife. How you can help Canada Lynx. www.defenders.org/canada-lynx/how-you-can-help.