RAWLINS, Wyo. (AP) - Four radio-collared lynx were spotted in Medicine Bow National Forest just north of the state line, the first confirmation of the cats in the forest since one was trapped in 1856.

Listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, Canada lynx have been transplanted in much of Colorado. Some have denned successfully and produced kittens, but many of the kittens have starved.

The four lynx in Medicine Bow-Routt National Forest spent several days moving across the state line last fall.

"They're exploring the area. Maybe they'll like it and maybe they won't," said Steve Loose, a biologist for the U.S Forest Service.

Loose said the Colorado Division of Wildlife would not tell him where the lynx were spotted out of concern that public interest would scare off the cats or interfere with their natural movement.

Loose said occasional sightings have been reported by the public between 1963 and 1987, but none was confirmed as lynx. He wonders if any of the reports were genuine because lynx resemble bobcats.

Lynx are larger, however, and have large feet, long legs, longer fur and tufted ears.

Both the Snowy Range and Sierra Madre sections of the forest have suitable lynx habitat, including good habitat for showshoe hares, the cats' preferred prey. Snowshoe hares live in spruce forest with many fallen trees and dense underbrush.

Loose said lynx usually prefer high elevations, but they travel a lot and can occasionally be found in aspen and even sagebrush. Often they hunt in willow bottoms.

He said fallen trees provide lynx with places to den and ways to travel across deep snow in the winter.

The last lynx trapped in Medicine Bow National Forest was stuffed and put in a museum.

AP-WS-02-21-04 1141EST