Lynx are medium-sized wild cats found across the forests of the Northern Hemisphere, especially in North America, Europe, and Asia.

Main areas where lynx live

  • Northern forests worldwide : Lynx are most common in forested areas across the northern parts of North America, Europe, and Asia, especially in colder regions.
  • North America :
    • Canada lynx live mainly in the boreal (northern) forests of Canada and Alaska, with smaller breeding populations in some northern U.S. states like Montana, Washington, Maine, Minnesota, and reintroduced populations in Colorado.
* Bobcats (also a lynx species) occur through most of the continental United States, southern Canada, and into northern Mexico.
  • Europe and Asia (Eurasian lynx) :
    • Found from central and northern Europe (e.g., Norway, Sweden, Finland, Poland, Romania) across Russia and into parts of Central and East Asia, including areas from France and Italy through Russia, China, and Korea.
* Some countries (like Switzerland, Germany, France, and parts of the Balkans) have reintroduced lynx after they disappeared due to hunting and habitat loss.
  • Iberian Peninsula (Iberian lynx) :
    • Restricted to a few areas of Spain and is the most localized and endangered lynx species.

Typical habitats

  • Dense forests: Lynx prefer mid- to high-altitude forests with thick undergrowth, including boreal and coniferous forests, where they can stalk prey like hares and small deer.
  • Cold, snowy regions: Many lynx populations (especially Canada lynx) live in boreal forests with long, snowy winters, where their large paws help them move over deep snow.
  • Mountain and taiga regions: They also occur in mountainous and taiga landscapes, from the Alps and Carpathians to Siberia and the northern edges of the Himalayas and central China.

TL;DR: If you go looking for lynx, you’ll mostly find them in cold, forested regions of North America (Canada, Alaska, northern U.S.), across much of northern and central Europe, and through Russia into parts of Asia, with a small, rare population in Spain.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.