Montreal Biodome welcomes lynx kittens
Posted May 16, 2022 2:06 pm.
Last Updated May 16, 2022 2:08 pm.
The Montreal Biodome has some new additions to their family: three lynx kittens that were born May 1.
“The kittens and their mother are doing well. Since the birth, the young lynxes have been very lively and their mother has been attentively seeing to their needs with nursing, cleaning and keeping them warm. It will not be possible to determine the kittens’ genders for a few weeks,” said Espace pour la vie in a press release.
The new lynx kittens will be monitored by camera and will be kept quietly out of sight with their mother until they are weaned and ready to explore their surroundings safely.
Visitors will get to see the lynx kittens in their habitat sometime this summer.
For now, you can follow their progress on Espace pour la vie’s social media platforms.
The female and male lynxes at the Biodôme are respectively seven and eight years old, and this is the second time they have reproduced. Their first litter being in 2016. After repeated mating sessions in late February, the female was closely monitored by the animal care team. They suspected she was gestating when she started gaining weight and they noticed her abdomen getting rounder.
The Canada lynx can live for longer than 20 years in captivity. It can reach sexual maturity in the first year but typically will start breeding at age two. The gestation period is between 63 and 65 days. There can be up to eight kittens per litter, but the average is generally three to four.
The species is not endangered in Canada, but there has been a decline in the number of individuals in some ranges, particularly in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The main threats are loss of habitat, fur trapping, fluctuations in prey populations and competition from other predators (e.g. coyotes).
