In Slovenia, summer time is dedicated to wrapping up the finalized season of camera trapping and preparing for the next one.
In collaboration with hunters, we have surveyed lynx and other wildlife at 158 camera trapping locations within 49 hunting grounds between late August 2020 and early April 2021. We obtained more than 45.000 photos of wildlife, from which lynx was recorded on 359 photos at 45 different locations. We identified 22 adult lynx from the photos and confirmed 5 reproduction events, one of them being the litter of Teja and Goru. Most of the identified adults (18) were already known from the previous season; two of them were the two documented kittens from last season. All collared lynx except Maks were recorded and additionally, another adult lynx was caught on a trail camera by a local hunter in the Dinarics, summing up to a minimum of 24 adult lynx being present in the Slovenian Dinarics in the lynx year 2020-2021. This suggests that camera trapping provides quite a good insight to the Slovenian lynx population.
Map of camera trapping locations (black dots) with recorded adult lynxes (blue dots) and reproductions (red dots). Photo: LIFE Lynx
In the Alpine region, we have not yet implemented coordinated camera trapping, however the newly established population stepping stone seems to be staying close to the released sites and so the 5 reintroduced lynx add up to the total minimum number of adult lynx in Slovenia.
Further details of the camera trapping in Dinaric – SE Alpine area and the results of the other methods used for surveillance of the reinforcement process will be reported in the next annual report, which will be prepared at the end of this year.
A territorial male from Kočevski Rog, which was the second most often recorded lynx in the Slovenian Dinarics. We have known the lynx since 2017 and he is a special one; he is missing one eye. Photo: LIFE Lynx
One of the recorded juvenile lynxes from Snežnik. Photo: LIFE Lynx