Relationship Between Rabbits & Lynx

Canadian lynx (Lynx canadensis), often called the American lynx in the United States, is a relative of the bobcat. This lynx is identifiable by a short, black-tipped tail and tufted ears. All lynx live in forested areas, some populations farther north than others. Those native to the subarctic coniferous forest zone, or taiga, range throughout Canada's northland from Newfoundland and Labrador to Alaska. Farther south, lynx populations consist of smaller groups distributed over a wide range and geographically isolated from each other; they're seen in some of the maritime provinces of Canada and Minnesota, Montana, Idaho and Washington. These lynx live in boreal zones, forested regions in more temperate climes that have both deciduous and coniferous trees as well as lakes, rivers, wetlands and plains. Wherever you find lynx, you also find their preferred food source, snowshoe hares.

Every eight to 11 years, snowshoe hare populations undergo dramatic fluctuations in numbers, and scientists finally understand why. During peak years, when the hares dine well, they give birth to large, healthy litters. Soon, this results in a hare surplus that exhausts the available food supply. The animals begin to starve and, in their weakened state, lynx catch them more easily. Undernourished hares also produce fewer offspring, with newborns less robust and therefore less likely to survive. A study of pregnant wild hares published in the November 2009 "Journal of Animal Ecology" found that any kind of stress, not just fear of predators, caused a similar decrease in reproductive efficiency.

For the lynx, feast rapidly turns into famine. After a year or two of decline, the hare population bottoms out and starvation starts stalking the cats. At first, they make do with rodents, squirrels and wild birds; but in terms of both quantity and quality, this prey is inadequate. When their nutritional needs aren't being met, lynx can't maintain the reserves of body fat necessary to survive in the cold climate. They're more vulnerable to predation and starvation, and the females can't provide their kittens with enough nourishment during gestation and afterward. According to the government of the Northwest Territories, such declines in lynx populations typically last three to five years. When food plants grow back unimpeded, and the hare population accordingly recovers, the lynx population follows suit.

Lynx expert Stan Boutin of the University of Alberta is concerned about the impact global warming will have on lynx-snowshoe hare cycles. Among three genetically distinct lynx subspecies isolated from each other by the Rocky Mountains or long distances, some pursue hare over crusty snow, which gives the cats the advantage, while others chase their quarry over fluffy snow, which gives the hares the advantage. Rising temperatures will result in fluffy snow turning crusty in some regions, thereby increasing the hunting success of lynx -- and influencing the cycle in ways that might have a negative impact on both animals, he says. Boutin calls this "one more way in which global warming is giving us an ecological warning."