ColetteWatercolours

Canadian Lynx

“Are you mean like a minx? Are you lean like a lynx?
Are you keen to be seen when you're smelling a rat?
Were you there when the pharaoh commissioned the Sphinx?
If you were, and you are, you're a jellicle cat.”

― Cats Musical

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The Canadian Lynx is a bit of an odd creature. Unlike the bobcat the Canadian Lynx have short bodies, long legs, giant paws, big eyes, and tufts of black on their ears. and are twice weight. This is not your house cat!

In Northern BC winters Lynx are in their element, with super hearing, thick fur and snowshoe like paws, they are patient night hunter, hiding quietly, waiting for their prey, then pouncing. These elusive creatures are often know as the "grey ghosts of the north."

 

 In the USA, the Canadian Lynx, is considered and endangered animal with only a few stable populations of the species, having been hunted for their thick soft coats. The Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada has not listed the Lynx at risk, however their population is tied to the snowshoe hare - an important food source. It's no wonder we see lynx in Tumbler Ridge, where the wild hare population is ever present (especially in spring when they steal my veggies!)

 

“What's your name,' Coraline asked the cat. 'Look, I'm Coraline. Okay?'
'Cats don't have names,' it said.
'No?' said Coraline.
'No,' said the cat. 'Now you people have names. That's because you don't know who you are.
We know who we are, so we don't need names.””

— Neil Gaiman, Coraline

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Cats are a mystery. In honour of cats everywhere, whether Jellicle Cats or the Boreal Predator, whose names only they know or who are too majestic to need one, this image is simply called "Wild Impressions".