Balkan lynx – Lynx lynx ssp.balcanicus


Name: Lynx lynx ssp.balcanicus  – Balkan lynx
Appearance: Lynxes have pointy ears with a tuft of hair on top, and a short tail. Their fur is yellowish to greyish brown and often speckled with darker spots, possibly stripes. The pattern depends on the surrounding.  Balkan lynx, unlike other subspecies of the Eurasian lynx, has pronounced ear tufts and longer hairs on its cheeks. 
Body length: 130 cm (with 11-25 cm of the tail length)
Body height: 65 cm
Body weight: 20-26 kg
Nutrition: carnivore
Mating season: February – April
Number of cubs: 1-3

The Balkan lynx is a subspecies of the Eurasian lynx in the genus lynx.  It’s population is estimated at less than 50 individuals, so it is listed in the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species as critically endangered.  It inhabits the western part of North Macedonia, eastern part of Albania and the Kosovar part of Prokletije mountain.

The Balkan lynx is very territorial animal, that lives a solitary life on a large territory, which overlap only in its marginal parts. They make contact with other individuals of their species only while mating. The male’s territory often overlaps with the living spaces of the females. The size of the living spaces is variable and is larger in males than in females. The size of the living space is influenced primarily by the availability of prey and possibility for shelter. The territory is marked by urine and faeces.

It is active in the night while it spends the day hidden in its shelter. It feeds on does, chamois and rabbits.  The results of the newest exploration of their faeces indicate that the Balkan lynx alternatively also feeds on wild boars, foxes, martens, chipmunks, dormice, mice and bats (Ivanov et al., 2018).

Macedonian Ecological Society has been implementing the recovery program of the Balkan lynx since 2006. The program includes field research, marking and monitoring lynxes by GPS collars, as well as research with the   camera traps and temporary capture traps. In addition to that, the program focuses on expanding the network of protected areas where the Balkan lynx lives, on strengthening national legislation concerning large carnivors  , on monitoring the lynx’s prey: doe, chamois and rabbit, as well as on implementing a series of educational activities. In Albania and Kosovo, activities on the protection of the Balkan lynx concern its monitoring, education of the local people, promotion of the existing protected areas, where it lives, and declaration of the new ones.

Alongside of poaching and habitat loss of the Balkan lynx, it is also threatened by the Carpathian subspecies Lynx lynx carpathicus, which expands and hybridize with it. Program for the return of the lynx to the Alps brought the Carpathian subspecies to Slovenia and rapidly expanded all the way to Bosnia. In the Eastern Serbia, the Carpathian subspecies expanded naturally. The Carpathian lynx is larger, with brighter and thicker fur and smaller specks. 

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