They have acute vision and will stalk prey over long distances or wait patiently in ambush before making a final, typical felid bound from as close as possible. They are usually solitary animals and nocturnal hunters, but cooperative hunting has occasionally been observed, with rabbits being driven towards a waiting ambush or a pair of lynxes stalking from both sides of joint prey. In North America the Snowshoe Hare is the most important prey animal , but lynx will also take small rodents, ducks and ground dwelling birds, young deer, fish, and larger cattle, if they can be ambushed from above in winter when they are at a disadvantage in the snow or when they have sustained injury. Elsewhere other hares, rodents, chamois, roe deer, even young wild boar, wildcats, badgers, foxes and dogs may all feature in their diet. In Sweden even reindeer have been taken.
Home range varies considerably according to the type and availability of prey.
Both males and females go beyond their territories in the mating season, which may be as early as January, but more normally late February or early March. The breeding male makes a high pitched wail which ends in a softer moan, the female answers in a vibrato siren-like howl. They also make a variety of hissing and chattering sounds. A litter, usually of two or three kittens, is produced after a gestation of 68-72 days in the early summer and reared in a lair in a hollow tree, rock cleft or similar site. They may take meat at one month, but are not weaned until five months old.