Wheres the Lynx?
Does a permanent population of Canada lynx live in northern Minnesota? That’s a question wildlife researchers are still trying to answer. “I think we have a very small number, but we do have some lynx,” said Paul Burke, biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “We may even have some reproduction, but that doesn’t make it a viable population.” Minnesota is on the southern edge of the lynx’s range, which reaches across Canada and Alaska. The cat’s population is notoriously cyclic. High numbers in Minnesota correspond with high numbers in Canada. When Canada’s lynx grow scarce, Minnesota’s lynx seem to disappear. Because of low numbers in the United States in the past 20 years, the lynx was listed as a federal threatened species in spring 2000. To learn more about Minnesota’s lynx population?or whether one still exists?researchers set up an extensive system of “hair snares,” a survey method designed and standardized by federal researchers. (See “The Missing Lynx,” Nov.-Dec. 2000
