Documentation of male lynxes stalking for wolf pups in the family homesites in July-August in Naliboki Forest

Coauthor Irina Rotenko

This post is connected with the recent post about mortality in wolf pups in Naliboki Forest and the whole Belarus. In that post about wolf pup mortality we provided quite a lot information on stalking for wolf pups by lynxes, particularly by adult male lynxes. The most vulnerable period in this kind of lynx-wolf interference starts since mid-July, when still quite small vulnerable pups begin to walk alone rather faraway from the coaching place of the wolf family homesite.

Recently we documented by camera-traps that several adult male lynxes were stalking for wolf pups in the homesites of one wolf breeding group that consisted of three united breeding couples. So, at the same time this post is like a continuation of the breeding group story that already was given in three previous posts: (1); (2); (3).

The following video demonstrates the presence of adult male lynxes in the coaching spots of the wolf breeding group homesite and very plausible stalking of adult male lynxes for wolf pups there. The video includes not only inspecting of the pup coaching spots by the lynxes, but also visiting of the recently used family burrow-den by one of the lynxes. Avoiding extra disturbance to the wolf breeding group, we did not search for possible carcasses of pups that could be killed by the lynxes.

After so much disturbance to the wolf breeding group by the lynxes (at least, by two different adult males and one female) the families relocated about 2.7 kilometres away. The next post will tell and show about how the families dwell in the next homesite.