Description
The lynx is about the size of a medium sized dog, it's tail is very short. It weighs about 11-45 lbs. The Lynx is most commonly recognized by the tufts of hair located on the top of it's ears. The fur of the lynx is silky and soft, and the colors are either reddish brown or gray with dark spots. The lynx also has very large paws.
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Habitat
The Lynx can be found in high altitude forests, with a dense cover of reeds, grass, or shrubs. Lynx are spotted all over the world from the Himalayas in China to the Slovenian Alps to the North American Rocky mountains. The critically endangered Iberian Lynx can be found in southern Spain, and before the poaching, eastern Portugal.
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Behavior
The behavioral traits of the Lynx are very similar to the behavioral traits of their cousins the leopard. The Lynx mostly avoids humans, they rarely attack humans and the cases concerning Lynx attacks have always shown that the lynx attacked for self-defense. The Lynx like to be solitary and our very shy, but on occasion lynxes can hunt and live in packs. They hunt and consume animals as large as a reindeer or Roe deer, but they usually feed on birds, fish, goats, and small mammals.
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Reproduction
Lynxes mate during the late winter. They try to find a resting place underneath a ledge or in a crevice to give birth to their kits. They usually give birth to 2-4 kits a year. The period of pregnancy is usually 8 to 10 weeks long. The mother will usually nurse up to 5 months but the kits start eating meat as early as the first month. The kits remain with their mother until the next mating season when they are to leave the litter. Females reach sexual maturity at 21 while the males aren't mature until 33 months. A lynx can live as long as 12-13 years of age.
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Reason for extinction
The lynx are in critical danger of going extinct. They are being hunted for use in clothing and other material possession. They are hunted mainly for their soft silky fur and their meat. There habitats are being cut down to make way for more hotel and housing expansions. Also local farmers in their region have been killing them because of the lynx eating it's livestock.
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