Lynx
The lynx is a ghost in the boreal forests, now thriving after a late 20th century reintroduction to Colorado.
About This Species
The lynx is a medium-sized wildcat that lives in North America and Eurasia. Lynx may have disappeared from Colorado by about 1973. Sightings prior to that time were few, scattered throughout mountainous areas of the state.
The lynx is easily confused with its more common and more widespread relative, the bobcat. The lynx is slightly larger than the bobcat, has grayish (rather than reddish) fur, less prominent spots, a conspicuous ear tuft, and a solid black tip (rather than a black tip broken with a reddish band) on the tail. The lynx’s tail is relatively shorter and its hind foot is much longer (greater than eight inches, versus less than eight inches in the bobcat).
Conservation
Threatened and Endangered
The lynx has been listed as a state endangered species since 1976 and was federally listed as a threatened species in 2000. Colorado's reintroduction efforts have successfully established a healthy population, but the species remains endangered.
Conservation
Bringing Lynx Back to Colorado
Lynx were found in most high elevation forested areas of Colorado in the late 1800’s, however, by 1930 they were considered rare. By the mid-1970’s the lynx population in Colorado was extirpated or reduced to a few animals. Trapping, poisoning, and loss of habitat contributed to the decline of the lynx and its disappearance from our state.
1990s
Colorado Parks and Wildlife began a seven-year effort to reintroduce these amazing animals back into the San Juan Mountains, using lynx from Alaska and Canadian provinces
96
lynx were released in 1999 and 2000 in the area near Creede and north of Durango
16
kittens born to reintroduced lynx in 2003
150-250
individual animals in the current Colorado lynx population, making the reintroduction efforts successful
Research
Research and Conservation
Trapping, poisoning, and loss of habitat contributed to the decline of the lynx and its disappearance from our state. However, in the 1990s, CPW began a seven-year effort to reintroduce these amazing animals back into the San Juan Mountains. The reintroduction resulted in astounding success, and our current monitoring efforts suggest that Colorado is home to 150-250 individual animals.
About the Project
This research project monitors lynx population trends by using presence/absence data to estimate the proportion of the landscape occupied by lynx. This proportion should trend up or down as lynx abundance moves up or down. From 2009 to 2010, researchers tried various methods of detecting lynx in areas where they were known to be present.
Snowtracking Surveys
This work showed that snowtracking surveys conducted by snowmobile were the most efficient means to detect lynx. However, such surveys can only occur in roaded areas.
Wildlife Cameras
For surveys in wilderness areas, researchers determined that remotely triggered wildlife cameras were the most efficient method for detecting lynx.
Collecting Data
Based on data collected from field research in 2009-2010, researchers determined that a sample of 50 units would need to be surveyed annually in the San Juan and South San Juan Mountains in order to be able to detect meaningful trends in lynx occupancy in the region. Work will be completed by CPW in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service. Additionally, other ranges throughout the state will be surveyed on a rotating basis such that when the monitoring effort is at full strength, annual data will be collected in the Southwest to monitor trends in the population, and periodic surveys will be conducted elsewhere to determine the extent of the population in the state.
About the Project
All 218 Alaskan and Canadian lynx released in Colorado were fitted with radio and satellite collars, allowing researchers to monitor movement patterns, survival, male and female proximity during breeding season, and female denning and births. Biologists monitored lynx after their release and used these early observations to refine protocols to improve the initial survival of translocated individuals.
Captivity
Biologists quickly discovered that holding lynx in captivity for several weeks after their arrival dramatically improved their monthly survival rate over the first year after their release from about 80 percent for lynx held only seven days to over 97 percent for lynx held over 45 days before release.
Survival
After the initial 1999 release, four lynx died due to starvation. The next group of wild-caught lynx were held in captivity for a much longer period and released later in the year when more natural food was available. Post-release survival rates improved dramatically. Over the first 10 years of reintroductions and monitoring, lynx that remained in the core release area had somewhat higher annual survival than those leaving the core area.
Reproduction
Colorado Parks and Wildlife released additional wild-caught lynx between 2003 and 2006 to encourage breeding, which had not occurred prior to 2003. Once the second set of reintroductions began in 2003, researchers documented the first 16 kittens born to the reintroduced lynx during that year. Lynx reproduction varied widely from a high of 50 kittens in 2005 to no reproduction in 2007 and 2008, and back to 10 kittens in 2009 and 2010. Observations of lynx reproduction in Colorado has thus far demonstrated a pattern of several years of higher reproductive success followed by several years of lower reproductive followed by an apparent return to better years. Variation in prey abundance is one potential explanation for this pattern.
Project Success
In 2010, CPW declared that the reintroduction project met all benchmarks of success established prior to the start of the project. The benchmarks included high survival rates after release, successful reproduction in released animals and animals born in the wild, low mortality rates, and reproduction rates that are equal to or that exceed mortality rates over an extended period of time.
- Keystone structures maintain forest function for Canada lynx after large-scale spruce beetle outbreak
- Community confounding in joint species distribution models
- Improved prediction of Canada lynx distribution through regional model transferability and data efficiency
- A specialized forest carnivore navigates landscape-level disturbance: Canada lynx in spruce-beetle impacted forests
- Winter recreation and Canada lynx: reducing conflict through niche partitioning
- Using environmental features to model highway crossing behavior of Canada lynx in the Southern Rocky Mountains
- A functional model for characterizing long-distance movement behavior
- Winter diet and hunting success of Canada lynx in Colorado
Report a Lynx Sighting
More Information:
Physical Characteristics
The lynx is a large, bob-tailed cat, three feet long with a black-tipped tail only about one-eighth the total length, and only about half the length of its huge hind foot. Weights are 20 to 30 pounds. The coat is grayish, with obscure spots. The magnificent ear tufts may be nearly as long as the actual ears.
Range
Lynx are active throughout the year; their huge hind feet help them move across heavy snow.
Habitat
The lynx is found in dense subalpine forest and willow-choked corridors along mountain streams and avalanche chutes, the home of its favored prey species: the snowshoe hare.
Diet
The typical hunting strategy is patience, stalking prey or crouching in wait beside a trail. Often the surprised quarry is overtaken and dispatched in a single, furious bound. Lynx also eat some carrion, and capture ground-dwelling birds (like grouse) and small mammals.
Reproduction
Lynx breed in late winter, and after a gestation period of about nine weeks, females produce a litter of about four kittens in April or May.
Threats to Species
- Residential and Commercial Development
- Energy Development and Land Use