Our next stop in our notebooking safari across Asia takes us to Iraq. If you’re new to the notebooking safari, visit our first stop here.

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Now that the sun is setting, we can go meet our next safari animal. We’re going to have to stay in the Jeep and be really careful. This is not an animal we want to get too close to.

Come on, let’s get going. We’ll wait here, just off the trail, and keep watch through the binoculars. Once we choose our spot, we cannot move or make a sound. If things go well, you’ll get to see a Eurasian lynx tonight. The lynx has an extraordinary sense of sight and hearing. It can spot a mouse from more than seventy meters away, though it would rather find a deer or other larger animal to prey on.

I imagine it would take a lot of little mice to make a big cat like the lynx feel full! The adult lynx usually grows to be about 80-130 cm long (approximately 2 ½-4 feet) and weighs between 15-29 kg (33-63 pounds).

Oh, I think I see one now. Do you see it? It is moving so slowly and silently. It has a creamy white coat with dark spots all over and big black tufts of fur on the top of its ears. It looks like it is stalking something.

Over there—do you see that wild pig resting on the trail? I think that is where the lynx is headed.

Ooh—it pounced. One chance is all it needed.

Maybe we should head back. I don’t think I want to sit here and watch it eat dinner, do you?

To see a picture of the Eurasian lynx, click here.

Using the information you find here, answer the following questions:

True or False:

1. The Eurasian lynx is the largest of the lynx species.

2. Eurasian lynx are native to Ireland.

3. It is typical to find one to three adult lynx in a 100-kilometer area.

Research challenge: Eurasian lynx like to prey on ungulates. What kind of animals are ungulates, and which of them would a Eurasian lynx be likely to find in Iraq?

Here is a printable notebooking page to enjoy!