Europe’s biggest wild cat, the Lynx, is weighing anywhere between 30 Kg (the Eurasian Lynx) and 9 Kg (the Iberian Lynx) and up to 70 cm height. It is considered a national animal in the Republic of Macedonia and is displayed on the reverse of the 5 dinars coin. It is also the national animal of Romania.
The Lynx (FB profile) is native to European, Central Asian, and Siberian forests. While its conservation status has been classified as “least concern”, populations of Eurasian lynx have been reduced or extirpated from Western Europe, where it is now being reintroduced. Lynx in Britain were wiped out in the 17th century, but currently the efforts of conservation groups have intensified, to persuade locals and government to re-introduce the lynx in the wild, to naturally curb the numbers of deer and hares.
In Spain starting 2004, a government survey showed just two isolated breeding populations of Iberian lynx in southern Spain, totaling about 100 lynxes. Since then, through massive effort and protection, the population has increased today to count over 400 individuals! However this effort must continue, to assure this sub-specie survives!
The Lynx is a strict carnivore, consuming about one or two kilograms of meat every day. It feeds on a wide range of animals from white-tailed deer, reindeer, roe deer, small red deer, and chamois, to smaller, more usual prey: snowshoe hares, fish, foxes, squirrels, mice, turkeys and other birds ( Video of lynx feeding in the wild).
Like all other predators, human beings hunting lynx because it to “compete” with us for preys. In Sweden, the tribe of lynx is over 1200, and it has been sighted even in the southern part of the country. But 1200 is to less, I think. Let them be, they do no harm to us humans.
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Shared on FB, I will share it on WordPress with the Italian translation if you agree! Have a lovely w.e. :-)claudine
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Hi Claudine, please feel free! Thanks & Have a lovely weekend! 🙂
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Thank you for letting me share it, now is in my WP account as well. :-)c
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Thanks Claudine, you are a true wildlife friend! 😉 Keep in touch!
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Surely will… it’s little, but nothing and nobody will stop me to do my best to protect these sentient beings with no voice! 🙂 have a lovely week :-)claudine
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Hi Claudine, found a short article on a family on wolves in Swiss Alps, and remembered about you:
http://wilderness-society.org/once-around-the-sun-with-the-calanda-wolves-a-web-documentary-of-the-famous-swiss-wolf-pack/
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Thank you so much! For sure, I’ll share this post!!! Keep in touch… have a lovely evening :-)claudine
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Pingback: The Lynx, Europe’s biggest cat * La lince | Claudine Giovannoni
Beautiful cat! Have not seen one other than in photos!
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Enjoyed learning about this elegant and wonderful mammal.
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Another member of the lynx family is the bobcat here in N America. They are widespread and reported in our area of the middle of the country. We keep watching but have yet to see one.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobcat
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Keep us posted Jim, as soon as you see one, share by means of your blog!
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