What are the behaviors of a canadian lynx?

Answer 1

They eat poutine and wear little toques...lol sorry I had to add that because I am Canadian.

Habitat and habits

The lynx generally inhabits forested wilderness areas. It favours old growth boreal forests with a dense undercover of thickets and windfalls. However, this carnivore, or meat eater, will populate other types of habitat as long as they contain minimal forest cover and adequate numbers of prey, in particular snowshoe hares. Because hare populations increase in forests that are growing back after disruption by wildfires or logging operations, these regenerating forest ecosystems are often able to support denser populations of lynxes as well.

As long as they are not disturbed, lynxes are remarkably tolerant of human settlement. For example, since the early 1960s, they have occupied the partly cleared mixed-farming district near Rochester, in central Alberta. A few were shot in farmyards, but there was no intensive fur trapping, and lynxes remain in the area.

The size of the home range varies with numbers of lynxes and snowshoe hares in the area, available cover, and season. When there are fewer hares, each lynx needs a larger area on which to hunt. In summer, home ranges are larger than in winter. In Alberta, lynx tracked in winter had home ranges varying from 15 to 47 km2. On Cape Breton Island, a study that involved radio transmitters attached to adult lynxes measured home ranges of 12 to 19 km2 in winter and 27 to 32 km2 in summer. In Canada, scientists have measured daily travelling distances for lynxes ranging from less than a kilometre to 19 km.

The territoriality of these mammals is still poorly understood. Home ranges may overlap, especially where the lynx neighbours are of different ages and sexes. In general, the home ranges of adults do not seem to overlap with other adults of the same sex. The animals urinate frequently to mark their home range.

Periodically, there have been conspicuous mass movements of lynxes out of the boreal forest and onto the prairie grasslands. These were well known to early fur traders and trappers, but they ceased in 1925–26. During 1962–63, however, there was once again a notable movement out of the north. Lynxes entered large cities such as Edmonton, Calgary, and Winnipeg; appeared on the open grasslands of southern Alberta, Saskatchewan, and North Dakota; and reached Iowa and southwestern Wisconsin. These same events were repeated during 1972–73. Like so many other aspects of the natural history of the lynx, these movements can be understood by relating them to the cyclical declines in populations of the snowshoe hare, the lynx’s main prey. Lynx populations that increase during periods of hare increase must either starve or emigrate when the hares disappear. The absence of any obvious movement between 1925–26 and 1962–63 probably reflected unusually low numbers of lynxes.

Like the cougar and the bobcat, the other two members of the cat family native to Canada, the Canada lynx tends to be secretive and most active at night and, like them, it is rarely seen in the wild. Even for trappers who have spent a lifetime in areas where lynxes are common, encounters with these predators are rare and memorable.

Unique characteristics

The lynx preys almost exclusively on the snowshoe hare. Since snowshoe hare populations follow a 10-year cycle, lynx numbers also fluctuate dramatically, building to a peak as hare populations increase, and then crashing. Scientists who have examined the fur-trading records of the Hudson’s Bay Company have been able to trace closely linked 10-year cycles of growth and decline in populations of the two species over the past 200 years. Figure 1 shows the cyclic fluctuations in the numbers of snowshoe hare and lynx pelts supplied to the company over a 90-year period.

For the rest of the Canada Lynx fact sheet go here... http://www.hww.ca/hww2.asp?id=84

Answer 2

Lynxes hunt for hares, rodents and birds, sometimes killing larger animals such as deer. They rely mainly on hearing and sight to locate prey. In some areas the Snowshoe Hare is virtually the only prey of the Canada Lynx. The size of the lynx population tends to follow the approximately 10 year long rise and decline of Snowshoe Hare numbers.

The lynx is a solitary and secretive animal, usually active at night, and requires a large territory.

Answer 3

http://www.saskschools.ca/~gregory/animals/lynx.html