The Canada lynx used to live in forests from New York to Minnesota, but some people doubted that the northern relative of the bobcat still lived in the Great Lakes region. Now, biologists have confirmed that lynx are in northern Minnesota. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chris Julin reports:
Transcript
The Canada lynx used to live in forests from New York to Minnesota, but some people doubted that the northern relative of the bobcat still lived in the Great Lakes region. Now, biologists have confirmed that lynx are in northern Minnesota. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chris Julin reports:
Biologists have been trying to snag hair from lynx for the past couple years. None of the “hair traps” around the Great Lakes turned up any lynx fur. So researchers in the Superior National Forest tried following tracks where people said they had seen lynx. They collected samples of hair and droppings. Superior National Forest spokeswoman Jo Barnier says DNA tests confirm that some of the droppings came from lynx.
“We’re not sure exactly what it means beyond that fact that we know they’re here this year. What we don’t know is whether we have lynx here year after year, and how many individual lynx we may have.”
The evidence of the lynx won’t mean any changes in logging or recreation. Forest managers in much of the lynx’ former range already follow rules assuming the presence of lynx.
In Duluth, this is Chris Julin for the Great Lakes Radio Consortium.