Asian Eurasian Lynx

Eurasian Lynx

(Lynx lynx)

Current all time records
SCI: Score 11 6/8
Rowland Ward: Score 11 5/16 - Estonia - 1977

Description: These medium-sized cats have stout bodies, long legs, large feet, and stubby tails. All of these characteristics allow them to move quickly over short distances. Their soft, thick fur is usually some shade of yellow or grayish brown. It is often marked with indistinct pale lines or spots. Their white whiskers frame their muzzle. Most have a kind of collar of long hair around their necks and under their chins. They are distinctively for their prominent ear tufts--long, black hair on the tips of their ears.

Generally, males are larger and more powerful than females.

Other Common Names:

Size:

Range: Primarily the forests of northern Asia and the Middle-East; year around but the coat is best in the winter.

Natural History: Lynx are strictly carnivores, feeding on small mammals and ground-dwelling birds such as roe deer, chamoix, hares, woodchucks, foxes, and squirrels. As is true of all cats, hunting is the most important activity of the day for a lynx. They are skilled and patient hunters whose lives depend on finding sufficient prey.

Since they can only run fast for a short distance, the lynx must surprise its prey. Keeping low to the ground, the lynx attacks these unsuspecting animals from a close range. Once it catches the small mammal, it bites the neck, cutting its spinal cord. If the animal is too large, the lynx merely holds the throat of the animal until it suffocates. Its razor-sharp teeth cut through the flesh, making eating simple. The prey, being too much for one meal, is covered and left until hunger surfaces again.

Lynx live in forested, mountainous regions far from dense human populations. When young, a lynx spends time in trees. In the winter, when most animals hibernate or migrate, these cats remain active. Their large, furry feet, serve as snowshoes. Their coat becomes paler and their fur thickens. Only during extremely bad weather do the lynx take shelter in caves, hollow logs, and trees.

Hunting Characteristics: