Well this is something you’ll probably never see again in your lifetime.
Two summers ago, an all-black Canada lynx was caught on camera, marking the first ever recorded discovery of its kind.
According to Outdoor Life, Thomas S. Jung, a wildlife biologist and researcher, captured the footage on his cellphone near Whitehorse in Yukon, Canada.
Jung discovered the creature while walking around a residential area about five miles southeast of Whitehorse, with the lynx sitting in someone’s yard as dogs bark at it from a distance.
According to Jung’s report in Mammalia, he was almost certain that it was an all-black lynx, and couldn’t have been a bobcat because he was located 650 miles north of the bobcat’s native location.
Jung wrote:
“Several Canada lynx experts also confirmed that the animal recorded was a lynx.”
The reasoning for the lynx being all-black is likely because of melanism, a genetic mutation that causes creatures to come out a different color than their species’ normal color.
Jung’s report states that there have been at least 20 all-black bobcats recorded over the past 100 years, but this is the first time an all-black lynx had been seen and recorded.
Jung also noted that he contacted a number of lynx experts to confirm the discovery:
“I contacted several lynx experts with extensive live capture and camera trapping experience, and no one had observed or even heard of a melanistic Canada lynx.
Despite being commonly observed and targeted in the fur harvest, neo previous reports of a melanistic Canada lynx exist.”
He referred to the trait as “maladaptive,” meaning that the creature would probably have a hard time surviving and hunting in the wild, considering its color.
For example, when they hunt their top prey, snowshoe hares, the lynx will change coats with the seasons, going from a reddish-brown coat in the summer to silvery gray in the winter.
