Lynx: Revealing its Secrets

We’re listening to the sounds of a lynx. To some Native Americans, this elusive creature was known as a keeper of secrets. Well, recently the lynx creature has been revealing some its own secrets to scientists. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by the American Museum of Natural History.

This month in Northern Canada, we know that lynx kittens are being born, but we have very little idea how many lynx there are in the wild because they’re so secretive. A few years ago, Dr. John Weaver, a Research Associate with the Wildlife Conservation Society, developed a way to track and count lynx. He attracts them to a rubbing post with an object that arouses their feline curiosity, and then a specially scented lure encourages the lynx to rub against it, invariably leaving a few of its hairs behind. With the help of DNA analysis, Dr. Weaver can use these hairs to monitor the lynx population.

“This new technique that we’ve developed has been very successful; So far we’ve been able to determine the distribution of the lynx, the gender of the animal, so that we know something about the composition of the population. We are about to be able to determine the individual identity. Once we do that, we can determine the actual density of lynx in these different areas. And we’re so confident with the technique now that this coming summer of 1998, we will be leading and coordinating survey of lynx all across the country– all the way from the Pacific Northwest to New England– using this new technique.

“They are such wonderful animals and what’s unique about them ecologically is that they represent an element of the Canadian fauna that extends southward into the US and adds to our local diversity down here.”

Pulse of the Planet is presented by the American Museum of Natural History. Additional funding for this series has been provided by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.

Lynx: Revealing its Secrets

Why are scientists interested in the wild lynx, and what do they want to find out?
Air Date:05/28/1998
Scientist:
Transcript:

We're listening to the sounds of a lynx. To some Native Americans, this elusive creature was known as a keeper of secrets. Well, recently the lynx creature has been revealing some its own secrets to scientists. I'm Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by the American Museum of Natural History.

This month in Northern Canada, we know that lynx kittens are being born, but we have very little idea how many lynx there are in the wild because they're so secretive. A few years ago, Dr. John Weaver, a Research Associate with the Wildlife Conservation Society, developed a way to track and count lynx. He attracts them to a rubbing post with an object that arouses their feline curiosity, and then a specially scented lure encourages the lynx to rub against it, invariably leaving a few of its hairs behind. With the help of DNA analysis, Dr. Weaver can use these hairs to monitor the lynx population.

"This new technique that we've developed has been very successful; So far we've been able to determine the distribution of the lynx, the gender of the animal, so that we know something about the composition of the population. We are about to be able to determine the individual identity. Once we do that, we can determine the actual density of lynx in these different areas. And we're so confident with the technique now that this coming summer of 1998, we will be leading and coordinating survey of lynx all across the country-- all the way from the Pacific Northwest to New England-- using this new technique.

"They are such wonderful animals and what's unique about them ecologically is that they represent an element of the Canadian fauna that extends southward into the US and adds to our local diversity down here."

Pulse of the Planet is presented by the American Museum of Natural History. Additional funding for this series has been provided by the National Science Foundation. I'm Jim Metzner.