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Lynx by Cody White Academic Orientation Mr. Keown period 7 December 19, 1997
With a pounce and a hop the speedy lynx chases the bleached white hare through
the bushes. Poof! The hare disappears into the shiny white powder. Then the sly
lynx picks up the scent of the hare and pounces toward the small hairball.
The sharp elongated claws don’t dig in, and the hare’s long slender legs
launch himself out of the hole and out of danger. The swift cat swings his claws
around to hit the fast hare, but he hits the snow right under his back legs. The
hare runs right between two willow trees and into a narrow opening which has a
bunch of fallen willow trees.
The hare has escaped from the lynx this one time, but the lynx will find
other food. The lynx is a pale brown to brownish grey with black streaks on its
neck, forehead, and on the back. It has a short tail, long tuffed ears, long
slender legs, wide feet for control in the snow, and long very soft fur. The
lynx will grow to be 30 to 40 inches long, and 24 to 28 inches high from feet to
shoulders. They usually weight 15 to 45 pounds. When you see the lynx, at first
sight, it looks gaunt and lanky, but it is really fast and muscular.
The back legs are longer than the fore legs for better pouncing ability.
“From the front the lynx looks royal with its hair on its face coming out to two
points” (Myers 136). The lynx is closely related to the bobcat, which populates
the north American region. The bobcat does not have big fluffy paws, or is not
as big as the lynx in relative size.
They have two different food varieties. The lynx eats hares ,and also may
prey on small deer, dall sheep, grouse, mice. Rarely they feed on fish. On the
other hand bobcats feed on grouse , fish, and other small rodents. Lynx chase
and still hunt their prey. They chase hares or they stay up on cliffs and
branches, and waiting to pounce on the animal as it goes by.
The lynx ranges from Alaska, all the way across Canada. The lynx are usually
found in climax forests and dense undercovers. They are usually found where
hares are abundant. If there are no hares in the vicinity, they travel out into
the tundra to find food. “Lynx breed during March and April. The gestation
period is 60 days long” ( Myers 135) . They will have from 1- 4 kittens each
year. They usually have dens, where they keep their kittens, in hollow trees or
under a pile of brush. The kittens stay with the female until well into the next
winter. The kittens don’t open their eyes until 10 days after birth. They also
only nurse for 3 to 4 months.
When the population of the hares are up the litters of 2 to 4 kittens have a
lot better chance to survive in the wilderness with their parents. When food is
not abundant the female lynx might not have a litter at all that year or not
until the hares have come back. Lynx usually are silent, but the males make a
screeching noise to find a mate during breeding season. The weird thing about
the lynx is when it is in a trap. It doesn’t make a sound. It sits there calmly
accepting its death. The Lynx are sly creatures that prowl at night to find
their food. That is usually the reason why people don’t see the lynx out in the
wilderness a lot. The lynx are sensitive to bright light, because their eyes are
made to see at night.
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