Lynx Facts

About the lynx

It ranges from northern, central and eastern Europe across Central Asia and Siberia to the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas, living in temperate and boreal forests as high as 5,500 m (18,000 ft). Rugged country with lots of cover suits it best. Big furry, webbed paws work like snowshoes, but loose snow deeper than 100 cm stops it, so mountain lynx move downhill in winter.

The short coat is reddish or brown with black spots that differ from cat to cat, and winter fur turns thick and silver-gray to grayish brown. A long gray-and-white ruff frames the face. Males measure 76 to 106 cm (30 to 42 in) long, and Russian lynx weigh 12 to 32 kg. By the 1950s it had vanished from most of western and central Europe. Habitat loss, poaching and shrinking prey still threaten it.

Did you know?

• Lynx tend to be scarce where gray wolves are common, since wolves sometimes attack them.
• Carl Linnaeus named the species Felis lynx in 1758.
• Lynx in Scandinavia came close to extinction in the 1930s.