Wheaton's Cosley Zoo welcomes 'sassy' lynx sisters

Sage and Poppy are living up to their names in their new surroundings at Cosley Zoo in Wheaton.

The lynx sisters have taken over the former bobcat exhibit at the neighborhood zoo.

In anthropomorphic terms, one-half of the late bobcat pair that resided at Cosley for more than a decade had a more reserved nature. But the felines are providing visual flavor and youthful spunk.

"I will tell you they're a little spicy, little sassy," Zoo Director Sue Wahlgren said Friday. "The bobcat boys we had we're a little more mellow. These girls are definitely a little saucy."

The 4-year-old Canada lynx arrived at Cosley from Montgomery Zoo in Alabama, their birthplace. Cosley welcomed the stealthy hunters under a cooperative species survival plan by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, a blueprint for maintaining genetically diverse and healthy populations of lynx in human care.

The lynx siblings, each about 25 pounds, aren't just filling a void in an enclosure built for bobcats.

"Moving forward, we're going to be expanding our collection to include animals from different parts of North America, so this is kind of our first step in that direction," Wahlgren said.

As part of its conservation mission, the Wheaton Park District zoo is calling attention to the perils faced by Canada lynx in the wild.

The species is primarily found in snowy forests throughout Canada and Alaska. In the contiguous United States, Canada lynx territory historically stretched across the Rocky Mountain Range to the western Great Lakes Region and parts of Maine.

Lynx may have once lived in Illinois, but the last documented sighting dates to 1899 in Boone County, according to an informational panel introducing Cosley visitors to its newest residents.

The solitary cats were listed as "threatened" in 2000 as defined by the U.S. Endangered Species Act. They're struggling in the Lower 48 states because of habitat destruction and fragmentation caused by deforestation, road construction and other human activities, Wahlgren said.

"Being able to share that kind of information, and connecting people with that specific animal, they really can develop a great empathy for the animal," Wahlgren said. "And hopefully in the long run ... it changes people's behavior toward animals in nature."

Lynx are well suited to cold conditions. Their wide, furry paws provide traction in the deep snow hunting their prey of choice: snowshoe hare.

"The lynx have enormous claws with a lot of hair on the bottom, so it acts not only to keep them warm in the snow but also kind of like a snowshoe," Wahlgren said.

Sage and Poppy dig their claws into logs scattered across their exhibit space, putting their climbing skills on display.

Even in the heat Friday afternoon, they seemed to be adjusting well to their environment. The two cats picked out shady spots in a hollowed-out log or fished out smelt from a pan placed by their caretakers in a small pond at the base of a waterfall feature, an enrichment activity meant to encourage natural behaviors.

"They like to problem solve, just like they would in the wild," said Heather Christophe, Cosley's lead zookeeper and animal welfare coordinator.

Compared to bobcats, lynx are distinguished by their lankier, compact frame, longer legs, larger ear tufts and a black tip on their short tail. But you could also say there's a difference in personality.

"They've got a little attitude to them," Christophe said. "They're just young girls and sisters."