A wild cat of Europe and Asia, with black ear tufts and a prominent ruff around its cheeks.
The short tail has a black tip. Broad, furry paws help it move through deep snow.
In the north-western Swiss Alps, researchers tracked 13 adult resident Eurasian lynx across three study periods: 1984–1988, 1997–2000 and 2011–2017. The cats favored forest in every period. Later lynx avoided open areas less and selected higher elevations more strongly.
Winter records of the main prey showed a shift: Alpine chamois made up 33% of the prey spectrum in the earliest period and 53% in the latest, while roe deer fell from 68% to 47%. In the latest period, chamois surpassed roe deer in the recorded prey mix. These observations describe one reintroduced population in Switzerland over several decades.
IUCN Red List · Least Concern (LC) · Global species assessment (Lynx lynx)
The IUCN Red List global assessment classifies the Eurasian lynx as Least Concern (LC). It was assessed on 20 April 2014 and published in 2015; the assessment record is marked as needing an update.
The European Commission’s summary of LCIE monitoring for 2017–2022/23 estimates about 9,400 Eurasian lynx in Europe in 2023, 12% more than in 2016. Yet the summary describes the overall population as little changed, with most large populations stable or increasing only slowly. The mapped range covered about 1.5 million km², 21% more than in 2016, although much of this gain reflects changes in monitoring methods for the Carpathian and Baltic populations. The Balkan population remains small and isolated and is identified as needing urgent conservation.