Lynx Cats

LYNX CATS

The lynx as a mammal is considered part of the mighty cat family.It is primary habitat is North America,Europe and Asia.

Lynx is a solitary cat whose body is covered with thick fur that helps in keeping them warm during extreme winters.Their body is perfectly adapted for their habitat like large paws and long legswhich hepls greatly in chasing the prey on the snow.It eats small rodents and also eats fish.The lynx inhabits the high altitude forests with dense cover of shrubs, reeds and grass.Lynx has very good sense of hearing and very keen sense of smell.The body colour varies from light brown to grey.It is very rarely seen cats as they hunt at night and normally avoid humans.

Their habitat requirement is different forest types, including young forests with thick vegetation for hunting hare and older forests with good cover for their dens.Their primary prey is hare and can survive only if hare populations is adequate though they also eat mice, voles and red squirrel.Lynx were hunted for their fur in the past but hunting is now banned and Lynx are listed in CITES Appendix II i.e. listed species can be traded commercially only if it does not harm their survival. The lynx often scavenge on the carcasses of larger animal such as caribou and deer in the autumn and winter months.Breeding occurs in January and February.Litters have 2 or 3 kittens,though the number may range from 1 to 5.Males do not participate in parental care.About 1,000 lynx are believed to exist in the wild.In the wild, lynx has lived as long as 14.5 years. The greatest threat faced by lynx today is the destruction of their habitat – logging destroys hare habitat and climate change has lessened snowfall.The large scale global warming has led to the destruction of the habitat which has threatened the survival of this beautiful cat.