page_title: Canada lynx
section_title: Diet and hunting
hierarchical_section_title: Canada lynx / Ecology and behaviour / Diet and hunting
caption_attribution_description: (NPS Photo/Jacob W. Frank) Check out the official Denali Facebook, Twitter and YouTube pages: Like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/DenaliNPS Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/DenaliNPS Denali YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/denalinps
context_page_description: The Canada lynx is a medium-sized North American cat that ranges across Alaska, Canada and many of the contiguous United States. It is characterized by its long, dense fur, triangular ears with black tufts at the tips, and broad, snowshoe-like paws. Similar to the bobcat, the hindlimbs are longer than the forelimbs, so that the back slopes downward to the front. The Canada lynx stands 48–56 cm tall at the shoulder and weighs between 5 and 17 kg. The lynx is a good swimmer and an agile climber. The Canada lynx was first described by Robert Kerr in 1792. Three subspecies have been proposed, but their validity is doubted.
  A specialist predator, the Canada lynx depends heavily on snowshoe hares for food. This leads to a prey-predator cycle, as Canada lynxes respond to the cyclic rises and falls in snowshoe hare populations over the years in Alaska and central Canada. When hares are scarce lynxes tend to move to areas with more hares and tend not to produce litters, and as the numbers of the hare increase, so do the populations of the lynx. The Canada lynx hunts mainly around twilight, or at night, when snowshoe hares tend to be active.
context_section_description: The Canada lynx preys primarily and almost exclusively on the snowshoe hare. These hares comprise 35–97% of their diet; the proportion varies by the season and the abundance of hares. However, at times when the hare's numbers drop, Canada lynxes will include other animals in their diet—such as ducks, grouse, moles, ptarmigan, red squirrels, voles and young ungulates (Dall's sheep, mule deer and caribou)—though snowshoe hares continue to be the primary component. The Canada lynx tends to be less selective in summer and autumn, adding small mammals as a minor component of their diet besides the hare. The reason behind this is unclear—it could be due to a greater abundance of alternate prey, or reduced success in hunting hares. A study in Alaska found that lynxes played a role in the decrease in populations of red fox, caribou and Dall's sheep when hares were very low in number. They have also been reported feeding occasionally on succulent sedges and grasses. Canada lynxes ingest 0.6–1.2 kg (1.3–2.6 lb) of food daily.
  Canadian lynxes hunt around twilight or at night, the time when snowshoe hares tend to be active. They rely on their vision and sense of hearing to locate prey. The lynx will roam or wait (in what researchers often term "ambush beds") on certain trails where snowshoe hares gather, pounce on a hare and kill it by a bite on its head, throat or the nape of its neck. Sometimes a chase of around ten bounds may be necessary to trap the prey. The lynx is assisted by its stereoscopic vision in detecting prey and measuring distances. Staying in cover while hunting helps the lynx conserve energy in its frigid habitat by avoiding unnecessary movement. Young ungulates are given a throat bite to suffocate them to death. The lynx may eat its kill immediately or cache it in snow or leaves to eat it over the next few days. Studies suggest success in hunting hares depends heavily on the distance between the lynx and the hare when the lynx begins chasing it and their relative speeds, which in turn depends on the hunting prowess of the lynx, the alertness of the hare and the vegetation cover among other factors. Canada lynxes will occasionally hunt together, though studies differ on how this affects the success rate compared to hunting solo. These lynxes may hunt in groups when hares are scarce. Scavenging is common; they will take ungulates killed by the cold or vehicles.
  Apart from Canada lynxes, coyotes are also major predators of the snowshoe hare. A study showed that compared to Canada lynxes, coyotes' feet sink deeper in the snow due to their smaller size and hence a larger body mass to foot area ratio, prompting them to ambush their prey instead of chasing it as lynxes often do. A study of those two animals in southwest Yukon Territory showed that when the hare population increased, both killed more than necessary for subsistence; lynxes need to kill 0.4 to 0.5 hare per day to meet their energy requirements but were observed to kill 1.2 hares per day during this period. Coyotes, with a success rate of 36.9%, emerged as more successful hunters than lynxes that succeeded in 28.7% of their hunts; however, this may have resulted from the greater number of adult coyotes in the studied population. Lynxes rarely cached their kills, unlike coyotes, and this may have led to incomplete consumption of some kills. When snowshoe hare numbers declined, both predators hunted for the same time period as they did when hares were abundant, but lynxes killed more hares than they had earlier. Moreover, lynxes supplemented their diet with red squirrels.
caption: Snowshoe hare, the primary prey of the Canada lynx
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