kshunter

NO Kiddin boys !!!!

A farmer found a road kill and called the phone number on the collar. Colorado DNR came and picked it up. The cat started out from the Yukon, and then was moved to Colorado, and then migrated to Kansas!!!

I always see a lot of bobcats every year but now there may be a few Lynx...

http://www.kansas.com/mld/eagle/news/12839829.htm

Howler

Colorado has been transplanting lynx for several years now. The first batch they brought in had a very poor result, most of them starved to death. Hmmm, the CDOW thought, maybe we should make sure they have an ample food supply in the area that we trasnplant them to. And so, they have had better success since. There are documented successful breeding pairs out here now.
As to seeing them in KS., well don't get your hopes up too high, there aren't that many here to start with, let a lone many of them moving to KS. The next thing will be wolves, as there is a group that is pushing hard to introduce wolves into the Rocky Mtn. National Park to help control the out of control elk herd! No one has figured out how to keep the wolves in the park, but they still are concidering it!

kshunter

That's a good deal. Looks like they're doing pretty good figuring there are 104 kittens, documented being born.

BrutalAttack

From what I understand of Kansas, that state does not have the habitat required to support a population of Lynx cats. All you'll ever get are the rare transients.

kshunter

I'm not really sure on what exactly a Lynx would need different that a bobcat? Kansas does however offer ample food supply, and cover. One of the biggest reasons Kansas has a very large population of bobcats.

Howler

There's no doubt lynx could do just fine in KS. The main difference between bobcat and lynx is body size and the size of thier paws. Obviously lynx get much larger and they have larger paws because they usually live in areas prone to have deep snow! BUT, CO. also has a healthy population of bobcat, so just goes to show that the two can and do live in very similar habitat!

BrutalAttack

No, I'm sorry that's incorrect. Bobcats are a more generalist predator. They are better able to adapt to different habitats and thus different prey bases. This is why you see bobcats from the desert to the mountains and everywhere in between.

The lynx's historical range has never included such low elevation habitats. The lynx's historical range has always coincided with the range of the snowshoe hare. Where the snowshoe hare occurs at sufficient density is where you see viable lynx populations. The adaptations that lynx have developed through natural selection are for mobility in deep snow. They rely on this mobility to catch prey and outcompete other predators in a certain kind of habitat, namely high elevationsubalpine fir andlodge-pole pine forests. In other habitats, the lynx is notadapted to thrive for a number of reasons, water use, prey escapability, prey cover etc. The lynx loses it's advantages. If lynx were able to thrive in the same types of habitats as bobcats then we would have seen lynx in other types of habitats (like desert and grassland) historically, but we did not.

There is some evidence however, that shrub-steppe type habitats may act as corridors for movement to/from other areas of core habitat like I described above. In several studies, lynx would never cross openings ofwider than 100 meters. Also, numerous predator-prey studies have shown lynx populations to cycle directly with snowshoe populations, not with squirrel, grouse or any other prey population fluctuation.

I hope this helps.

Howler

So, you think a lynx can't catch a cottontail, or pheasant! I've seen house cats do that, so why would a lynx not be able to do it, and there for live where it has ample cover and ample food, even though the food source isn't snow shoe. There's no doubt that the lynx will eat more than just snowshoe rabbits.
Mtn. lions are being found in places that don't have mule deer, but historically, they live in mtns. and mule deer is thier main course! So, how can that be? Could it be that they are adabtable toother land scapes and food sources?
Look at elk, for another example. They used to live in the plains, BUTnow you see very very few any where except the mountains!

kshunter

The Lynx was found in Grove county Kansas. Theterrain is pretty most, in most areas, but dense in others and contains a very large density of prey... even more than what can be found in the eastern half of the state, with much more cover. Jackrabbits and pheasants are around nearly every corner. If Lynx are able to find a more than ample food supply and good cover with very low density of humans, I'm not sure why they wouldn't. Once the Lynx are transplanted, I would assume the historical data of being with the Snowshoe hare may change, from adaptation.

But I'm not a Biologist either, so I may be way off the mark. But it seems to make sense.

BrutalAttack

Stop using the straw man fallacy. Stop attacking points that I didn't make.

I never stated that lynx couldn't catch a cottontail, or that they only preyed on snowshoe hares. I stated that: The only place we find viable populations are where there are good populations of snowshoe hares.

Historically, mt. lions didn't prey soley on mule deer. They are specialized to prey on deer yes, but not just mule deer. They hunt everything from porcupines to bighorn sheep but you don't see them in areas with no deer.

As far as your elk metaphor. Well they aren't as specialized, so I would expect them to be quite adaptable. All hind-gut ruminents can consume a variety of plant matter and still thrive. Now, if they were specialized for a certain plant like for instance koalas and eucalyptus then that would be a different story wouldn't it?

Also, there is a big difference between a few individual cats surviving in an area and an acutal population thriving in an area. I'm sure a lynx could run around a grassland and kill gallanious birds and make it ok. But as far as a long term viable population? No sorry.

I don't expect you guys to know all about specialized predators and habitats, but it should be logical. If lynx could thrive in a variety of habitats, they would have occupied those habitats and we would have seen that historically.

Believe me or not, I'm just trying to add some knowledge. I am a biologist.