It also has a short "bobbed" tail with an all-black tip, black tufts of hair on its ears, and a long grey-and-white ruff.

[10][12] Those inhabiting Fennoscandia and westwards are considerably smaller, with a range of just 7–26 kg (15–57 lb), though individuals in the Carpathian Mountains may rival those in the Altai in size.

In the more mountainous parts of its range, Eurasian lynx descends to the lowlands in winter, following prey species and avoiding deep snow.

[9] It tends to be less common where the grey wolf (Canis lupus) is abundant, and wolves have been reported to attack and even eat lynx.

By the early 19th century, it was persecuted to local extinction in western and southern European lowlands, but survived only in mountainous areas and Scandinavian forests.

[27] The Eurasian lynx of Spain was a unique, extinct lineage more related to the Carpathian and Baltic subspecies.

It was genetically impoverished already in pre-Roman times, possibly because of founder effect, which made it even more vulnerable to human persecution.

It was reintroduced to the Bavarian Forest and the Harz in the 1990s; other areas were populated by lynxes migrating from France and the Czech Republic.

An episode of the PBS television series Nature featured the return of the lynx to Austria's Kalkalpen National Park after a 150-year absence.

[32] In Switzerland, the Eurasian lynx was exterminated in the early 20th century, with the last confirmed sighting around Simplon pass in 1904.

[39] In the Anatolian part of Turkey, the Eurasian lynx is present in the Lesser Caucasus, Kaçkar Mountains and Artvin Province.

[60] More than 50 individuals were identified and monitored at a forest-steppe mixed ecosystem in northwestern Anatolia by camera traps, genetic material and radiotelemetry between 2009 and 2019.

[64][65] In Central Asia, it is native to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and the Chinese provinces of Xinjiang, Gansu, Qinghai, Sichuan, Shaanxi, and to the northern slopes of Iran's Alborz Mountains and Mongolia.

[70] Fossils of the Eurasian or a closely related Lynx species from the Late Pleistocene era and onward were excavated at various locations in the Japanese archipelago.

Mating calls are much louder, consisting of deep growls in the male, and loud "meow-like" sounds in the female.

Eurasian lynx are secretive, and because the sounds they make are very quiet and seldom heard, their presence in an area may go unnoticed for years.

[9] The Eurasian lynx is an ambush predator but also hunts by stalking, sneaking and jumping on prey using both vision and hearing.

Among the recorded prey items for the species are hares, rabbits, marmots, squirrels, dormice, muskrats, martens, grouse, red foxes, wild boar, chamois, young moose, European roe deer, red deer, reindeer and other ungulates.

In some areas in Poland and Austria, red deer is the preferred prey, and in Switzerland, chamois is locally favored.

[78] Lynx in Anatolia also has physiological requirements and morphological adjustments similar to other lagomorph specialists, with a daily prey intake of about 900 g (32 oz).

[81] Eurasian lynx scat found in Dolpa District in the Nepal Himalayas contained remains of woolly hare (Lepus oiostolus), pika (Ochotona sp.

Pregnant females construct dens in secluded locations, often protected by overhanging branches or tree roots.

At birth, Eurasian lynx kittens weigh 240 to 430 g (8.5 to 15.2 oz) and open their eyes after ten to twelve days.

They initially have plain, greyish-brown fur, attaining the full adult colouration around eleven weeks of age.

[12] The gray wolf, wolverine, as well as the red fox and the eagle owl, are also competitors with the Eurasian lynx for prey, notably in the taiga regions of Russia.

In years of low hare populations, the competition becomes especially fierce; the lynx is at a disadvantage as its competitors are able to capture additional, larger prey animals, and more efficiently.

[12] In two ecosystems of Anatolia, cannibalism was common, and fellow lynx were found to form 5% to 8% of prey biomass in their diets.

Claws and bones analysed showed that sub-adult lynx were the victims of cannibalism during the mating and spring seasons.

Hunting lynx is illegal in many range countries, with the exception of Estonia, Latvia, Russia, Armenia and Iraq.

[2] Since 2005, the Norwegian government sets national population goals, while a committee of representatives from county assemblies decide on hunting quotas.