By the next breeding season, the young are ready to fend for themselves. Lynx may live to be 15 years old. In North America, lynx are most commonly found in Canada and Alaska with smaller populations also occurring in northern Washington and Idaho and northwestern Montana. Their preferred habitat is boreal forests with a dense undercover of thickets. In Colorado, typical habitat is remote forests above 8,000 feet on both sides of the Continental Divide.
Lynx are secretive animals well-suited to surviving severe winter cold.
Although a native to Colorado, lynx have apparently always been rare. Throughout its range, some of the lynx's decline in the 19th and early 20th centuries was due to the largely unregulated fur-trapping industry. Habitat loss and fragmentation probably account for more recent population decreases. As mentioned earlier, lynx populations can be secondary victims to the snowshoe hare population cycle. Around every 10 years, snowshoes over-browse their food supply and die of starvation.