Co-author Irina Rotenko
In Naliboki Forest (the central-northern Belarus) as well as in other habitats in an individual lynx home range there are quite a lot sites, which are used by the individual lynx for a number of purposes.
Continue reading “Long-term frequent usage of a particular site by lynxes”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”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”Co-author Irina Rotenko
It looks like among both amateurs and researchers of the Eurasian lynx an opinion is wide-spread that the species strictly avoids cold water, in particular crossing cold waters of streams by swimming. Before camera-trapping by dealing with lynxes already quite a lot (study on population dynamics and diet in connection with changes in prey supply), we think like that, too.
Continue reading “Does the Eurasian lynx avoid strictly cold water?”Coauthor Irina Rotenko
Since March we have faced with cancellation of our wildlife trips in Naliboki Forest from the Naust Eco Station because of the pandemic situation. Our research on the wolf and lynx, family life and the maintenance of eco station itself appeared without any financial support. Having some cash accumulation, renting out the guest house and thanks to some donations from our former guests (Jean-louis Bonay, Mika Mäkinen, Gerard Oonk) we were able to live and keep up our research till the late summer. There was no any possibility to accept wildlife travellers from abroad because of the corvid-related lockdown of the European Union, spreading the disease and absence of suitable flights.
Continue reading “We renew wildlife trips in Naliboki Forest from the Naust Eco Station after the pandemic break”Coauthor Irina Rotenko
In May 2020 we traced four breeding groups of wolves in the model area (about 1000 square km) of Naliboki Forest, the central-western part of Belarus. There were mating registered in all these wolf groups in the period from the late January till the mid-March. According to the obtained information from the camera-traps and by reading of activity signs, it looked like all the adult females of wolves got into heat and mated.
Continue reading “Breeding wolf couples without pups”Before, in 1950s-1970s the mountain hare was common species in Naliboki Forest. According to the local hunter’s words in those winters the species tracks covered snow cover densely and more or less evenly in each fragment of this forested terrain. In the late 1990s and beginning of 2000s it looked like the mountain hare local population density in Naliboki Forest was evidently in a decline; there were censused only 0.2-0.8 inds per one square km. In 2005-2010 the evident growth of the local population of mountain hare was registered, and more or less high number of the species continued till 2014 (2.9-6.1 inds per one square km). Then during the each next winter we faced with fewer and fewer number of mountain hares in Naliboki Forest.
Continue reading “Declines in mountain hares in Naliboki Forest, central west of Belarus: hypotheses and arguments”While denning, wolf breeders dig burrows quite often. At the same time fairly frequently wolf pups may be situated on a coach-den in close proximity to the burrow-dens that were created by their parents, but not inside one of these burrows. An interesting question may be raised. Which mammal species use wolf burrows afterwards? Of course, small insectivores and rodents visit such burrows regularly. There is no any doubt in that. But which bigger mammal species may use former wolf burrow-dens?
Continue reading “Which mammal species use wolf burrows?”In Belarus during many years of study on wolves in the early summer (May-June), when I was investigating denning in wolves, I noticed numerically that wolves roll in engine oil on forest roads once and again. The same red foxes do sometimes. Lynxes do that, too. Later in July-September wolves and other carnivores almost stop this habit.
Continue reading “Why do wolves roll in engine oil on forest roads during early summer?”
By investigating the denning behaviour and ecology of wolves (Sidorovich and Rotenko, 2018) and lynxes in Naliboki Forest, we faced with several evident trends during the last years (2016-2018) that we connect with the changes in the local vertebrate community or more specifically with the pronounced changes in the population densities of those species that may affect the denning conditions for wolves and lynxes.
Continue reading “Trends in the denning behaviour of the wolf and lynx in connection with the changes in the vertebrate community in Naliboki Forest (north-western Belarus)”
Zoology by Vadim Sidorovich 