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Posted: 24th April 2013

First big cat to roam Britain discovered
Image: Lynx skull
Canadian lynx specimen found in museum storeroom

A mystery animal rediscovered in a museum's underground storeroom has been identified as a Canadian lynx, believed to be the earliest big cat to roam the British countryside.

The lynx was found by researcher Max Blake, amongst hundreds of thousands of specimens at Bristol Museum and Art Gallery. The animal had been mislabelled as a Eurasian lynx by Edwardian curators in 1903.

After analysis of the animal's skeleton and mounted skin, however, Durham University scientists and researchers from Bristol, Southampton and Aberystwyth universities identified the specimen as a Canadian lynx - a carnivorous predator twice the size of the average domestic cat.

Lead researcher Dr Ross Barnett, said: “The animal remains are significant in representing the first historic big cat from Britain.”

The research, which has been published in the journal Historical Biology, negates the popular theory that wild cats did not begin to roam the British countryside until after the 1976 Wild Animals Act, which was introduced to deal with the fashion for exotic pets.

Researchers believe British "big cats" may have entered the wild much earlier, through escapes or deliberate release.

Dr Barnett added: “This Edwardian feral lynx provides concrete evidence that although rare, exotic felines have occasionally been part of British fauna for more than a century."

The lynx has now been put on public display at Bristol Museum.

Image credit: Bristol Museum & Art Gallery © Courtesy of Bristol Museums, Galleries & Archives



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