While a few days ago the largest of all cats, the tiger, was covered, today's post will be a much smaller cat species: the
Canada Lynx! While one of the larger small cat species, Canada Lynx are significantly smaller than any of the
Panthera species. This species, as the name suggests, is native to Canada and the Northern United States, and is the larger relative to the bobcat, which has already been featured in the thread. Unlike the bobcat and cougar, Canada lynx are managed by the AZA as part of the SSP program, and there have been a number of captive births in recent years.
Lynx have very similar needs to bobcats, and other than being slightly larger, there aren't many differences. As such, the same criteria used for bobcats will be used for the lynx as well:
- Climbing Opportunities: Like most felid species, lynx benefit from the ability to choose between various heights of their exhibit. While they can be a primarily ground-dwelling species, they will also readily climb trees, rock structures, and other habitat features. While the type of climbing structure may vary based on the type of habitat (i.e. I'd expect different climbing structures in one representing a deciduous forest than one representing the Sonoran desert), it is still important to ensure the lynx have adequate climbing opportunities in any style of exhibit.
- Exhibit Size: Small carnivores have historically been kept in small exhibits, oftentimes of an inadequate size. While size of an exhibit is not everything, I did prioritize exhibits that are larger when other design factors are equivalent.
- Hiding Opportunities: Lynx can be shy animals, like many felids. Exhibits that provide opportunities for the lynx to hide, while not necessarily ideal for the public, were prioritized since hiding opportunities do improve the welfare of animals involved.
The exhibits chosen for lynx are:
- Some zoos are known for having consistently good exhibits for certain types of animals, and in the case of native cats, one of those zoos is Northwest Trek Wildlife Park, who has now been officially mentioned for all three native cat species. This exhibit is very similar to the other two, with an array of tall trees providing an excellent home for the species, in an exhibit that amounts to little more than a fenced-in section of forest. A pair of Canada lynx share this exhibit, which is certainly impressive:
Photo by:
@snowleopard
Photo by:
@Ituri
Photo by:
@snowleopard
Photo by:
@snowleopard
- Also in the state of Washington, Woodland Park Zoo opened a new Canada lynx exhibit in 2022. This exhibit is a very spacious, meshed-in home that includes a number of natural elements including large logs and rocks that create some large climbing structures in the center of this exhibit:
Photo by:
@snowleopard
Photo by:
@snowleopard
- A very rocky exhibit for lynx is present at the Minnesota Zoo, now the first zoo to receive seven mentions on this thread. This rocky exhibit includes some very impressive climbing opportunities due to the tall rockwork present in the exhibit. This is another mesh-topped exhibit, and is home to a pair of lynx:
Photo by:
@Pleistohorse
Photo by:
@Pleistohorse
Photo by:
@pachyderm pro
Photo by:
@Dhole dude
- Another naturalistic, mesh-topped exhibit for lynx is at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. This exhibit houses three Canada lynx, and has both live trees and impressive rockwork to provide plenty of climbing opportunities for the lynx:
Photo by:
@MGolka
Photo by:
@snowleopard
Photo by:
@Baldur
- The Northeastern Wisconsin Zoo has another impressive lynx exhibit, in this case though the exhibit is open-topped. This exhibit contains live trees that are completely accessible to the lynx, something that I wish was more common in zoo exhibits:
Photo by:
@snowleopard
Photo by:
@Milwaukee Man
