Image: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo
Posted By : The Animal Facts Editorial Team
Date: January 25, 2023 3:30 pm
Guests visiting Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington will have the opportunity to meet three Canada lynx which arrived at the zoo last year as they go on display within the Living Northwest Trail.
The brand new facility at the zoo has the lynx living in a fission-fusion dynamic meaning guests which visit the zoo may see all three of the lynx or just one depending on the day. These lynx will have the ability to make moves between social combinations.
Woodland Park Zoo have assembled their lynx trio from zoos across North America. Yukon, 3, came from Northeastern Wisconsin Zoo, Monty, 3, arrived from Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo and Marty, 3, came from Minnesota Zoo.
Two of the lynx have been given different names since arriving at the zoo. This helps to reflect the desire of Woodland Park Zoo to have these individuals be ambassadors for the Pacific Northwest. Monty and Yukon were given their names by friends of the zoo who have supported their wildlife conservation efforts. The names draw inspiration from the Yukon river in Canada and the town of Montreal, one of the largest cities in Canada.
Marty has been a resident at the zoo since it opened in November 2022.
Lynx are residents of the mountain habitats and forests of North America. While not considered at risk of extinction on a global species they have come under threat in Washington state, the home of Woodland Park Zoo. Climate change is leading to an increase in wildfires and reduced snowfall.
Woodland Park Zoo are studying lynx alongside their partners with a view to restoring the species in the Cascades.
On the other side of the Atlantic lurks the Eurasian lynx. Learn what makes them different to their American cousins in our fact file.
The population of the Canada lynx is linked to the population of the snowshoe hare. Populations of hares explode to large numbers and then fall along a cycle which lasts between 8 and 11 years. The Canada lynx population appears to follow this with a lag of between one and two years.
Image: Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo
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