Co-author Irina Rotenko
In Belarus wolves visit badger setts rather often. Frequently the aim of such visits is to catch a badger that slacked near the burrow. During the breeding season of wolves, quite usually they try to get rid of badgers and occupy their sett. They use such burrows to leave pups inside. Normally wolf breeders enlarge the entrances of such a badger sett.
Continue reading “Wolf vandalizes badger sett with badger cubs inside”Co-author Irina Rotenko
In the book on the grey wolf reproduction biology (Sidorovich & Rotenko, 2019) we told about several patterns of wolf pack multi-breeding, which we documented in Naliboki Forest and Paazierre Forest in Belarus during the last two decades. The main distinctive feature in wolf pack multi-breeding is how many big adult males, which perhaps equally ranked, take part in a breeding group of wolves. If a male leads a breeding group, normally it is only a strong male in the breeding group. Such a group of breeders may include two or three breeding females.
Continue reading “Double breeding in the model wolf pack during the spring of 2022 with implication for a pattern of a pack multi-breeding”Co-author Irina Rotenko
In one of the former posts we have already addressed to the question of usage of road pipes by lynxes. In the given post we provide some further results on the question including respective video-footage, while the former post was illustrated only by photo-registrations.
Continue reading “Lynx addiction to road pipes”This scientific book gives the results of the long-term studies on the Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx in Belarus, mainly in Naliboki Forest and Paazierre Forest. Population structure, breeding, diet and prey supply as well as the variety of behavioural traits were considered. Among behavioural questions there were investigated sociality, hunting modes, mating and denning behaviour, territorial marking, sheltering and interspecific interference. The monograph presents not only the regional aspects of lynx biology, but also includes many new findings for the Eurasian lynx overall.
Continue reading “Scientific book “Behaviour and ecology of the Eurasian lynx” has been published”Co-author Irina Rotenko
Mother lynx left her kittens in a sheltered place at a small beaver pond surrounded by reed thicket and went for hunting. After half an hour play, the kittens went to rest in the reed stand. Three hours later lynx mother reunited with them.
Continue reading “Video-documentation of stay of lynx kittens, when their mother went for hunting”Co-author Irina Rotenko
Since May 2021 in the protected area of Naliboki Forest consisting slightly more than one thousand square kilometres we traced six wolf litters. Altogether there were 35-40 wolf pups. In the mid-July there were registered 15 pups (2, 8 and 5). In September only one breeder group saved 4 pups. These breeder group consisted of mother, father and another adult female, which was like a pup-sitter. Till December they lost 3 more pups. In the beginning of January 2022 merely one pup walked with the three adult wolves there. That pup was the only single one in the the protected area of Naliboki Forest and the whole Naliboki Forest in the beginning of 2022.
Continue reading “Again very high mortality in wolf pups in Naliboki Forest in 2021: only one pup survived from 6 litters”Coauthor Irina Rotenko
During the warm season of 2021 in Naliboki Forest we investigated post-denning life of four families of Eurasian lynxes. Doing that, we applied about sixty camera traps. Among the mother lynxes there were three model females (Aurelija, Jurchykha and Darota), which we traced for several years before, and one newly appeared mother lynx. The number of kittens varied from one to three: 1 (the new mother), 2 (Jurchykha and Aurelija) and 3 (Darota).
Continue reading “Results of study on Eurasian lynx post-denning family life in Naliboki Forest during the warm season of 2021”Co-authors: Irina Rotenko and Gerard Oonk
In the last year after our study on denning in wolves in May 2020 we have already reported about the peculiar situation in denning by wolves in Naliboki Forest, the central-western Belarus. Wolf breeders stopped denning on open coaches as it used to be, and they began denning in burrows exclusively, when mammals (red deer, bison, elk, lynx, brown bear), which are characterized by aggressive behaviour to pups, got plenty altogether in this forested terrain.
In May 2021 we discovered four active wolf dens and traced the denning behaviour of two wolf breeding groups having two and three breeding females (both cases of a multi-breeding in a wolf pack). All the five breeding female wolves kept pups in burrows only. Altogether we found 33 wolf burrow-dens that were used for denning: 7 self-made by wolves and 26 enlarged badger-setts and outliers. Interestingly, that 11 out of 26 badger burrows were wolf burrow-dens before (2-7 years ago). No any wolf couch-dens were found in May 2021, while before such a situation that is inimical for wolf denning they denned on open couches and pits.
See the video below for the details of denning in wolves in Naliboki Forest during May 2021.
Co-author Irina Rotenko
Every May we continue our long-term study on behaviour and ecology of denning wolves. Since 2004 the terrain of Naliboki Forest (the central-western part of Belarus) has been the main study area for the question. Since 2018 the brown bear has become more or less common there. It appears possible to investigate the interspecific interactions of brown bears and wolves and particularly during denning period in wolves.
Continue reading “Brown bear attack on a wolf den in Naliboki Forest, central-western Belarus”Recently I published a new book “Reading mammal activity signs. Experience of 40 years in Naliboki Forest and Paazierre Forest, Belarus”. It is published in two versions as a hard copy and as an e-book (print replica).
The book language is English. It consists of 440 pages and includes 1608 illustrations, mainly photos of mammal doing activity signs and activity signs themselves.
Continue reading “Book “Reading mammal activity signs” has been published”
Zoology by Vadim Sidorovich 