Lynx home range and movements in Montana and Wyoming: Preliminary results [Chapter 11]

Abstract

Preliminary telemetry data suggest that lynx in Montana and Wyoming have large home ranges; this result supports the Koehler and Aubry (1994) contention that lynx from southern lynx populations have large spatial-use areas. Annual home ranges of males were larger than females. Straight-line, daily travel distance averaged 2 to 4 km, which is similar to northern populations. Four males in Montana, and the male and female in Wyoming, made exploratory movements of 20 to 30 km. The extent of these movements may be underestimated because we could not locate all lynx that traveled extensively. We do not know if these movements were exploratory or if the home ranges of these animals include widely dispersed use-areas. The female in Wyoming denned in a mature subalpine fir forest with high horizontal cover from coarse woody debris.

Parent Publication

• Ecology and conservation of lynx in the United States

Citation

Squires, John R.; Laurion, Tom. 1999. Lynx home range and movements in Montana and Wyoming: Preliminary results [Chapter 11]. In: Ruggiero, Leonard F.; Aubry, Keith B.; Buskirk, Steven W.; Koehler, Gary M.; Krebs, Charles J.; McKelvey, Kevin S.; Squires, John R. Ecology and conservation of lynx in the United States. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-30WWW. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. p. 337-350.