The Canada lynx has “snowshoe-like feet”. The description explains why Canada lynx have big feet. Also the fur covering the paws is long and dense. The paws can be spread out. All these factors means that this medium sized wild cat can get around nicely in soft snow. This is vital to survival. Apparently lynx paws can support twice the weight of bobcat paws.
The paws of the Eurasian lynx are wide “with well-developed webbing between the toes”. In winter the undersides of the paws are covered with long, dense, shaggy fur. All of these features are designed to allow the Eurasian lynx to travel through deep snow with relative ease.
For the lynx the weight per surface area of the foot is between 34-60 grams per cm2. This means that the paws of the Eurasian lynx support around three times more weight on snow than that of the forest wildcat.
One of the world’s rarest wild cats is the Iberian lynx. It lives in Portugal and used to be found in Spain. I cannot find a description of the feet of the Iberian lynx. This species of lynx has no snow to navigate. I would suspect that its feet are not as well developed as those of the Canada and Eurasian lynx. As seen on this page the bobcat (a member of the lynx family or lineage) has significantly smaller paws that the Canada lynx.
