Canada lynx
Amazing fact
The Canada lynx has tufts of long black hair at the tips of its triangular ears.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web
No sign-up needed. You can save notes on this device.
An illustration based on the real animal.
A little discovery to share.
The Canada lynx has tufts of long black hair at the tips of its triangular ears.
THE REAL WORLD
The real Canada lynx
- Scientific name
- Lynx canadensis
- Japanese name
- カナダオオヤマネコ
- Group
- Land mammals
- Class
- Mammalia
- Order
- Carnivora
- Family
- Felidae
- Genus
- Lynx
A lynx that lives mainly in Canada. It lives in old forests with thick undergrowth, and also in rocky areas and tundra.
Its paws are very large and furry, which helps spread its weight when it moves over snow.
Snowshoe hares are an especially important food. Females and their young sometimes hunt hares together by spreading out in a line.
How the Canada lynx lives
It hunts mainly at night. It stalks prey and pounces, or sometimes waits in ambush for hours. It makes rough dens under rock ledges, fallen trees or shrubs.
University of Michigan Animal Diversity WebBasic data
- Size
- 670–1,067 mm
- Weight
- 4.5–17.3 kg
- Lifespan
- up to 14.5 years in the wild, up to 26.75 years in captivity
- Active
- At night (nocturnal)
- Diet
- Snowshoe hares
- Range
- Canada, western Montana, nearby parts of Idaho and Washington, and elsewhere
Where the Canada lynx has been recorded
Records: GBIF.org (CC0 and CC BY 4.0 records, retrieved 2026-11-07). Map: Natural EarthSee the records on GBIF
Watch wild animals from a distance. Do not touch or feed them, and take care of the places where they live.
Names around the world
- 日本語
- カナダオオヤマネコ
- 简体中文
- 加拿大猞猁
- 繁體中文
- 加拿大猞猁
- 한국어
- 캐나다스라소니
- Español
- Lince canadiense
- Français
- Lynx du Canada
- Deutsch
- Kanadischer Luchs
- Português (Brasil)
- Lince-canadense
- Italiano
- Lince canadese
- العربية
- وشق كندي
- Bahasa Indonesia
- Canadian Lynx
- Tiếng Việt
- Linh miêu Canada
- Русский
- Канадская рысь
- Türkçe
- Kanada vaşağı
- ไทย
- ลิงซ์แคนาดา
Names come from Wikidata and iNaturalist records. Where a language has no recorded name, we use the scientific name.
Sources and how we check
- University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web — Lynx canadensisChecked: 2026-11-04
We check each fact against its source. The illustrations simplify how the real animal looks.
The classification (class, order, family, genus) follows Wikidata records, checked against GBIF. Classifications can change as research goes on.
The basic data are the values given in each source. They vary with how the animal is measured, whether it is male or female, and whether it lives in the wild or in captivity.
This page was translated from the original Japanese with the help of AI.
Report a mistakeRELATIVES
Others in Felidae
MORE TO MEET
