AnimalvsAnimal
Canada lynx by Michael Zahra🐈

Photo: Michael Zahra · CC BY-SA 3.0

SpeciesCarnivoraFelidae
Carnivores

🐈Canada lynx

Lynx canadensis Kerr, 1792

Le Lynx du Canada (Lynx canadensis) également connu sous l’appellation algonquienne de Pichou est une espèce de mammifères carnivore de la famille des félidés. Ce Lynx dont l’aire de répartition englobe la partie septentrionale de l’Amérique du Nord, essentiellement le Canada et l'Alaska (États-Unis) ainsi que le nord-est des États-Unis et une partie des Rocheuses, se caractérise par son épaisse fourrure adaptée aux climats froids.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
14
Photos
1
Measurements
14
vs you
≈ 1/6th of your weight
Also called
American lynx, Canadian lynx
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2025.

Population trendUnknown
Key measurements
Body mass
9.68 kg
Body length
0.81 m
Shoulder height
0.52 m
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
27 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Canada lynx

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
9.68 kg
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 10 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Body length
0.81 m
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Shoulder height
0.52 m0.48–0.56 m · typical rangenot stated
Details ↓

'Cat is muscular, leggy, and stands about 48-56 cm high at the shoulder.' Midpoint of the published range. Same authors' Wild Cats of the World (2002, pp. 154-163) carries the same 48-56 cm figure. ADW and the 2019 Mammalian Species account list no shoulder height.

Source: Sunquist & Sunquist 2009, Family Felidae (Canadian Lynx account), in Wilson & Mittermeier (eds), Handbook of the Mammals of the World Vol 1: Carnivores, Lynx Edicions, https://zenodo.org/records/6772738 · see citation

Brain mass
71 g
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
27 years
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 27 yearsAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Generation length
9.29 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Age at maturity
1.8 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Gestation
63 days
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 63 daysAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Litter size
about 3
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 3.5AnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Trophic level
Carnivore
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Activity cycle
Nocturnal
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Home range
31 km²
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Population density
0.07 per km²
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
9.7 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Canada lynx yet: top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classMammalia
  4. ›orderCarnivora
  5. ›familyFelidae
  6. ›genusLynx
  7. ›speciesLynx canadensis
Full lineage
  1. classMammals · Mammalia
  2. orderCarnivorans · Carnivora
  3. familyFelidae
  4. genusLynx
All 14 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. classMammals · Mammalia
  9. subclassTheria
  10. superorderLaurasiatheria
  11. orderCarnivorans · Carnivora
  12. suborderFeliformia
  13. familyFelidae
  14. genusLynx
More

More about the Canada lynx

Closest relative on this site
🐈 Iberian lynx — last shared an ancestor ≈ 1.1 million years ago.
What it eats
warm-blooded animals80%
fish20%
In other languages
وشق كندي (ar), linx canadenc (ca), Kanadischer Luchs (de), lince canadiense (es), lynx du Canada (fr), Kanadski ris (hr) … and 26 more languages

Les animaux pris sur le vif

De vraies images des animaux de ce site — à la chasse, au combat, ou vaquant simplement à leurs occupations.

Voir toutes les 14 vidéos →
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