This Canada The lynx, whose formal name is Lynx canadensis, is a species of lynx that lives in North America, in parts of both the United States and Canada.
It is common for Canada Lynxes to have light brownish-gray fur, but black fur has been seen on some individuals.
Before 2022, there were no pictures of these black lynx, but a lucky observer got some pictures that quickly went popular.
A scientist at Canada’s University of Alberta saw this one-of-a-kind cat. A worker for the Yukon Government named Thomas Jung took a video of the cat with his cell phone.
The find was written about in the journal Mammalia in an article called “Paint it black: first record of melanism in Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis).”
Filming took place in a rural neighbourhood close to Whitehorse, Yukon. In the film, the lynx can be seen taking a break about 50 metres away. There were people and a dog nearby, and when the dog started barking, the lynx moved away.
Canada Lynx are known for living alone and in small groups. Experts who know a lot about the species said the shaky video didn’t show many features that would help them tell it apart from other videos of the same species.
Jung wrote about the lynx’s appearance: “It had a black coat with whitish grey guard hairs all over it, as well as whitish grey hairs on the face, rostrum, and dorsal regions.”
Most lynx species have coats that are a similar colour. For example, the Canada lynx’s coat is usually silvery grey in the winter and turns dark brown in the summer.
Due to its many coat colours, the lynx in the movie is thought to be very rare. Jung said that these kinds of differences are usually adaptations that can be good for development (adaptive) or bad (maladaptive).
The black coat colouring is caused by melanism, but scientists haven’t yet found out if it has any pros or cons. But Jung thinks this trait is bad because the lynx’s darker fur could make it stand out more when hunting in the snow in the winter.