lynx – Page 2 – Zoology by Vadim Sidorovich

Observational insights: lynxes and wolves utilizing road pipes in Naliboki Forest

Co-authors: Alieksandr Mysiev, Irina Rotenko and Dmitry Mysiev

In the winter of 2023-2024, we’ve captured two enlightening series of footage featuring large road pipes, remnants of Soviet-era construction, now seamlessly integrated into the forest’s landscape. These structures, though abandoned by humans, have found new purpose as integral parts of the local ecosystem, frequently visited by various animal species.

Afeared wolf is investigating a lynx marking spot

Co-author Irina Rotenko

In this blog we have presented our own materials on the interference between wolves and lynxes in Naliboki Forest, the north-western Belarus in several quite large posts before.

Long-term frequent usage of a particular site by lynxes

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.

Lynx addiction to road pipes

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.

Video-documentation of stay of lynx kittens, when their mother went for hunting

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.

Again very high mortality in wolf pups in Naliboki Forest in 2021: only one pup survived from 6 litters

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.

Results of study on Eurasian lynx post-denning family life in Naliboki Forest during the warm season of 2021

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).

Does the Eurasian lynx avoid strictly cold water?

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.

Story of consuming of four carcasses of roe deer killed by adult male lynx with implication for a role of adult male in feeding of kittens

Co-author Irina Rotenko

One of the most important pressing questions of the Eurasian lynx behaviour and ecology is a role of an adult male in family life. It is well known that an adult male lynx accepts from one to three adult females in its home range. So, it may be up to three lynx mothers with kittens in the territory that is occupied by an adult male lynx. In our case in Naliboki Forest (central-western Belarus) there were usually two such families, rarer one or three families inside a territory of an adult male lynx.

Using of cavity-shelters by Eurasian lynxes in Belarus as non-rocky forested region

Coauthor Irina Rotenko

In mountain rocky regions it is well-known that Eurasian lynxes use cavity-shelters that situated under or between rocks, whereas in non-rocky forested regions such a behaviour of the species is not so evident. Recently we found that lynxes use cavity-shelters in such habitats a lot, too. We investigated this question on lynx behaviour in Naliboki Forest (central-western Belarus) by means of camera-trapping, snowtracking and detailed inspection of lynx habitats with checking for lynx hair.

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