Tag: lynx

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.

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

Documentation of using badger sett by lynx mother with small kittens

Coauthor Irina Rotenko

In our previous studies we registered usage of badger setts by mother lynx with small kittens in June-August (mainly by track registrations), as well as much interest of pregnant female lynxes to badger setts (by camera trapping). We supposed that badger sett is a quite common den of the Eurasian lynx. Nevertheless, a good documentation of using badger sett by lynx mother with small kittens was absent in our materials. We had some photos of that behaviour only.

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Is a burrow a suitable lair for mother lynx?

Coauthor Irina Rotenko

Recently in Naliboki Forest in the central-western part of Belarus we registered when heavily pregnant female lynx was inspecting the last year burrow-den of wolves plausibly as one of potential sites for her denning.

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Poorly known marking manner of the Eurasian lynx by scratching of forest floor or snow cover

Coauthor Irina Rotenko

In snowless season Eurasian lynxes quite often do territorial marks by applying not only rubbing and urinating (defecating), but also scratching of forest floor. It looks like that is poorly known for lynx researchers and amateurs.

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Documentation of prolonged mating season in Eurasian lynxes

Coauthor Irina Rotenko

We continue the post about mating in Eurasian lynxes with some detalization in relation to the seasonal period of mating in Naliboki Forest, central-western part of Belarus. Here we would like to present some our photo-documentation that suggests the prolonged mating season in this lynx species in Naliboki Forest.

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Documentation of Eurasian lynx sleeping on a tree height and the species calling from a height on tree

Coauthor: Irina Rotenko

At 4PM on 19th of April 2020 in Naliboki Forest, the central-western Belarus we were walking in swamped black alder forest in the Vol’ka small river valley. The weather was quite cool and windy, but from time to time with sunshine. Then in one place we heard the lynx calling plausibly from a tree height. In total we heard about 40 callings with 2 seconds to 4 minutes interval. Moderate strength wind was blowing to our side from the direction of lynx calling place. It was luck and so we succeeded to approach the lynx 100-130 meters. The lynx was still calling from black alder tree on the height about 16 meters (see photo).

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Peculiarity of mating in lynxes in February-March 2020 in Naliboki Forest after the disease when most of the adult males died

As it was already published that in Naliboki Forest during summer, autumn and early winter 2019 more than a half of the local population of lynxes died from unknown disease. According to the intensive camera-trapping by about 70 cameras as well as by regular checking of lynx tracks, in Naliboki Forest in the model area of about one thousand square km 7 out of 13 adult males (S’tsiapan, Ksavery, Maxim, Bazyl’, Kazimir, Jan, one without name) and one adult female Jadz’viha disappeared. 7 out of 12 adult females (Jaryna, Vieranika, Pryhazhunja, Maximiliana, Malanka, Pielahieja and Bazylikha) were registered without any kittens in autumn. Two of them definitely lost them. Other afive dult females had 1 or 2 kittens only.

Continue reading “Peculiarity of mating in lynxes in February-March 2020 in Naliboki Forest after the disease when most of the adult males died”

Mother lynx, having own kitten, has adopted another kitten, which mother has died

Coauthor: Irina Rotenko

In Naliboki Forest, the central-western part of Belarus we (Naust Eco Station and Wild Naliboki) have documented by camera-traps that a mother lynx, having own kitten, has adopted another kitten, which mother has died. Actually, the story was as following.

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Extermination of red foxes and raccoon dogs by lynxes and wolves in forested terrains, and the peculiarities of local populations of these medium-sized carnivores

Below we consider the combined impact of lynxes and wolves on the populations of red foxes and raccoon dogs, because their predation effects on the populations of these victim species are hard to separate. First, we list the gained data on the killing rate of red foxes and raccoon dogs by lynxes and wolves from two main different methods i.e. telemetry and snowtracking.

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Rapid decline in the local population of lynx in Naliboki Forest, NW Belarus: density-dependent regulation or disease?

First, briefly about history of lynxes in Naliboki Forest during several last decades. In the early and mid-1990’s, after the Soviet Union crash, perhaps in conditions of relatively weak nature protection, the majority of lynxes were poached in Naliboki Forest. In the 1980’s there was a dense lynx population in the terrain, but by the late 1990’s lynxes occurred sporadically there. In the early 2000’s lynxes began recolonizing Naliboki Forest. The severe snow conditions in the late winter and early spring of 2013 seemed to impact lynxes negatively, and the local lynx population number dropped from 35 to 22 the next winter. Indeed, during the spring of 2013, as far as we learned, local forestry workers and antler searchers found at least three lynx carcasses. All of them seemed to be subadults or kittens, because they looked relatively small.

Continue reading “Rapid decline in the local population of lynx in Naliboki Forest, NW Belarus: density-dependent regulation or disease?”