Chronic stress and diet in Canada lynx

What is it about?

Canada lynx are specialist consumers of snowshoe hare. When snowshoe hare are limited, some lynx will eat alternative prey to fill dietary requirements. We have demonstrated that types of prey consumed do not affect long-term cortisol concentrations expressed by lynx, despite a strong preference for snowshoe hare. Additionally, we identified a significant increase in long-term cortisol concentrations measured in lynx towards the northwest region of their distribution.

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