A rare sighting of an elusive species on a trail camera in Minnesota brought excitement to nature lovers thanks to a viral video.
As reported by the Star Tribune earlier this month, Tom Gable of the Voyageurs Wolf Project in northern Minnesota uncovered footage of a Canada lynx while reviewing thousands of hours of footage. The 40-second video of the beautiful creature garnered over 275,000 views on X, formerly known as Twitter.
We captured some really neat footage of lynx this past year on our cameras but this is definitely the coolest. In fact, might be the best video of a lynx we have ever captured, not least because the lynx decided sit right in front of the camera...
— Voyageurs Wolf Project (@VoyaWolfProject) July 31, 2024
Thanks to the Minnesota… pic.twitter.com/vcrFk0MlNn
The lynx was seen strolling the area on Kabetogama Peninsula in Voyageurs National Park on an April morning. It sat down just a few feet away from the camera and looked around before leaving the shot.
Gable said lynxes have been seen before on trail cameras from Voyageurs Wolf Project, but they've never been captured so clearly during daytime hours.
"A lot of fortuitous things have to happen, not only for the lynx to sit there, but for the lighting to be nice, and for there to be that pretty, North Woods background," Gable said, noting that most of the trail cameras that show lynxes only catch them at night or at a distance, per the Star Tribune. "Those are the things that make it really cool."
Commenters on social media were blown away by the beauty of the Canada lynx.
"What a magnificent creature!" one user wrote in a reply.
"Lynx are beautiful animals, majestic even," another commenter wrote. "Their fur is incredibly soft. The width of their legs & their big paws are indicative of just how powerful they are."
The Star Tribune noted that as of 2022, there were an estimated 100 to 300 Canada lynx in Minnesota. The rarity of the species caused the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to consider it threatened under the Endangered Species Act.
Still, the sighting in Minnesota provides some optimism for those hoping to conserve and protect endangered animals.
Similarly, a trail camera in Ujung Kulon National Park in western Indonesia captured a rare female Javan rhinoceros and its calf, providing hope that the rare breed of rhino is expanding its herd. Also, two families of the endangered red wolf were reintroduced into the wild by being released into the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in Eastern North Carolina in a conservation effort.
These sightings not only bring hope but also underscore the importance of continued conservation work to protect and restore the habitats of these incredible animals.
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