Ancient Egyptian bestiary: The lynx

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The lynx

The lynx was one of the smaller wild cats living in Egypt. The Desert lynx, or caracal, lives mostly beyond the narrow strip of fertile Nile plain. Its colour is brownish and it preys on birds and small mammals.

Lynx; Source: Jon Bodsworth New Kingdom sketch of a lynx
Louvre Museum
Source: Jon Bodsworth

Mafdet, goddess of the execution of judgment, was sometimes depicted as a lynx. The lynx also fought existential evil, embodied by the serpent Apep:

O Apep, thou enemy of Ra. Get thee back, Fiend, before the darts of his beams! Ra hath overthrown thy words, the gods have turned thy face backwards, the Lynx hath torn open thy breast, the Scorpion hath cast fetters upon thee, and Maat hath sent forth thy destruction.
E. A. Wallis Budge Egyptian Magic, Chap. 3, p.79

But it was also a danger to the deceased in his journey through the underworld, who needed charms to ward off the Lynx, as well as the Great Crocodile Sui, the Serpents Rerek and Seksek, the Beetle A-pshait, the terrible Merti snake-goddesses, and Apep.