An example of a predator prey cycle is the Canadian Lynx and the Snowshoe Hare. The Canadian Lynx’s live in northern Canada and its favourite prey is the Snowshoe Hare. Between 1845 and 1925 the population of the Lynx and Hare were recorded and compared with each other. The graph below shows how roughly every ten years the population of Lynx will increase and shortly after the population of Hares decrease, then the population of Lynx will decrease and the population of the Hare slowly rises and the cycle continues.
In a study done in south western Yukon which is on the border of Alaska and Canada between April 1982 and June 1984 lynx were tagged and monitored. The study showed that the “Lynx concentrated their foraging efforts in areas of relatively high snowshoe hare abundance and abandoned these areas after hares declined.” (Ward, R et al. 1985) The predators were following the Hares population in order for the Lynx to survive.