Eurasian Lynx

This was an animal that I was looking forward to seeing at the Calgary Zoo. Two visits ago, there was no sign of either Lynx in their enclosure. However, when I went to the Zoo on 14 October 2014, I spotted this one, right at the back and half hidden in a corner. The metal bars around the enclosure make it difficult to get a decent shot – this animal was positioned so that there were lots of bars behind it, too, so I did a very rough removal in post-processing. Unfortunately, the black tufts from its ear tips don’t show up very much.

This animal is also known as the European lynx, common lynx, the northern lynx, and the Siberian or Russian lynx. While its IUCN conservation status has been classified as "Least Concern", populations of Eurasian lynx have been reduced or extirpated from western Europe, where it is now being reintroduced.

“Earlier this year (2014), the Calgary Zoo welcomed two new Eurasian lynx - a one year old brother and sister pair named Kazan and Anastasia, respectively. They arrived from Elmvale Zoo, Ontario, in December 2013 and were debuted on April 11th, 2014. The Eurasian lynx is the largest and tallest lynx species in the world (there are four), and their size allows them to hunt larger mammals, often feasting on deer. Due to habitat loss they no longer can be found in central Europe, but they reside in Siberian forests, Central Asia and East Asia, where their natural predators are wolves and occasionally wolverines.

Like most cats, Eurasian lynx tend to be nocturnal. They are a lot larger than Canadian lynx- and where Canadian lynx are silvery coloured, Eurasian lynx come in a variety of colours. An interesting fact about these lynx is that they have a tendency to ‘cache’ their food - they will hide it in small portions for safekeeping. Often after being fed, our keepers will find little bits of our lynx’s dinner hidden all around the enclosure!” From the Calgary Zoo.

www.calgaryzoo.com/keep-it-wild/meet-our-new-eurasian-lynx

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurasian_lynx