Eurasian Lynx

The Eurasian lynx is the largest of the four lynx species, found across the forests of Europe and Asia in a range stretching from Scandinavia through Central Asia and Siberia to parts of East Asia. It has a thick, spotted or plain tawny coat that varies by region, prominent black ear tufts and a short, black-tipped tail, and its large, well-furred paws act like snowshoes, distributing weight to help it move efficiently through deep snow. A solitary and elusive hunter, it relies primarily on roe deer and other small to medium-sized ungulates, supplemented by hares and other small mammals, typically stalking prey before a short, powerful pursuit. Once hunted to extinction across much of Western Europe by the twentieth century, the Eurasian lynx has been the subject of a number of successful reintroduction programs in countries including Switzerland, Germany and France, and its overall global population, concentrated in Russia and Central Asia, remains large and considered of least concern, even as fragmented western European populations stay small and closely monitored.