Lynx Coloring Pages
A lynx looks like a house cat dressed for winter, with big furry boots, a fluffy beard and black tufts on its ears. Lynx live in snowy northern forests, including right here in Canada. Here you'll find realistic lynx in the snow, cuddly cubs and a few silly cartoon ones.
Jump to: Realistic | Cartoon and Cubs | About Lynx
Realistic Lynx Coloring Pages
Lynx resting, prowling through the snow and keeping an eye on their cubs. These have lots of fur detail, so they're nice for taking your time.
Cartoon Lynx and Cubs
Lynx kittens are born in spring and stay close to mom through their first winter. These pages have cubs playing in the snow, a lynx family and one lynx hanging from a branch like it's having the best day ever.
Lynx in Myths and Legends
With those glowing eyes and pointy ear tufts, it's no wonder the lynx has wandered into a few old stories.
Mishipeshu, the Great Lynx (Ojibwe)
In Ojibwe tradition, Mishipeshu is a giant underwater lynx with horns and a long spiked tail. It was said to live deep in Lake Superior and stir up storms and dangerous rapids, so people made offerings to keep the waters calm. You can still see a painting of Mishipeshu on Agawa Rock in Lake Superior Provincial Park in Ontario.
King Lyncus (Greek Mythology)
The goddess Demeter sent a young man named Triptolemus around the world to teach people how to grow grain. When he reached the land of King Lyncus, the jealous king tried to kill him in his sleep so he could take the credit.
Demeter stopped him just in time and turned him into a lynx.
Lynx Eyes and Lynx Stones (Roman Mythology)
People long ago believed a lynx could see right through walls. That's where the old word "lynx-eyed" comes from, meaning someone who notices everything.
The Roman writer Pliny even claimed that lynx pee turned into a precious gemstone. It doesn't, but you have to admit it's a pretty funny story.
Roman mythology coloring pages
Lynx and Coyote (Salish Stories)
Lynx shows up in stories told by the Salish peoples of the Pacific Northwest, often alongside the trickster Coyote. The tales change a lot from one telling to the next, but Lynx is usually a scruffy, unlikely hero who turns out to be more than he seems. The stories were important enough that a famous anthropologist (Levi-Strauss) wrote a whole book about them.
About Lynx
There are four kinds of lynx. The Canada lynx lives in the northern forests of Canada and Alaska, the Eurasian lynx roams from Scandinavia across to Siberia, and the Iberian lynx is a rare cat found only in Spain and Portugal. The fourth is the bobcat, the lynx's smaller and more southern cousin.
The Canada lynx eats almost nothing but snowshoe hares. Their numbers rise and fall together in a cycle about every ten years. When there are lots of hares, there are lots of lynx kittens. When the hares disappear, the lynx have a hard time too.
Coloring a Lynx
Think winter forest. A Canada lynx is a frosty silvery grey with a little brown mixed in, while a Eurasian lynx is more reddish with darker spots. Leave the chest and belly a pale cream, and give it a big fluffy ruff of fur around the cheeks, like a beard.
Use black for the ear tufts and the edges of the ears, and add a few faint dark streaks on the cheeks. Here's a trick for telling a lynx from a bobcat: a lynx's stubby tail is black all the way around the tip, while a bobcat's tail is only black on top. Lynx eyes are usually golden or yellow-green.
For the background, try snow in white and soft blue shadows with dark green spruce trees behind.