Viral trail camera video captures rare footage of Canada lynx in northern Minnesota

As Tom Gable reviewed thousands of hours of footage this week from trail cameras set up for the Voyageurs Wolf Project in northern Minnesota, he was shocked to find clear footage of a Canada lynx.

The 40-second clip, which became popular after Gable posted it online this week, was shot on Kabetogama Peninsula in Voyageurs National Park on the morning of April 11. It shows the lynx strolling toward the camera before sitting down in the woods only a few feet away. The lynx looks around, scanning the area and rotating its ears, before leaving the shot.

Gable said lynxes have been captured before on Voyageurs Wolf Project cameras, but never this clearly in 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. "Those are the things that make it really cool."

Many on X, formerly known as Twitter, commented that they thought the lynx looked adorable and "friend-shaped." The lynx was in a remote area that's only accessible by bushwhacking and home to about four wolf packs, Gable said.

Gable, who serves as the project lead for the Voyageurs Wolf Project, said the lynx was captured on one of 350 trail cameras that his team sets up. The project studies the summer behavior of wolves in and around Voyageurs National Park and is funded by the Minnesota Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund.

The cameras that look down well-used animal paths, such as the one used by the lynx, are more likely to capture good footage of animals than cameras on ATV trails or logging roads, Gable said.

Canada lynx are characterized by long fur that hangs below their cheeks and black tufts of hair at the tips of their triangular ears. There were an estimated 100 to 300 lynx in Minnesota as of 2022. The species is considered threatened under the Endangered Species Act, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.