We have already reported the interesting meeting between the lynxes Teja and Goru immediately after his arrival in the territory of Teja. After the first meeting, the lynxes spent an unusually large amount of time together (almost a week) even though it was two months after the mating period, which is usually between late February and the middle of April. Detailed movement is presented in the following animation.
In the second half of August, Teja started to show parturition-like movement patterns. The lynx’s movement area was significantly reduced. After inspecting the area, we found some resting sites that looked like she could have had a litter there, but no other signs were observed.
On November 19th, we got the answer to our speculations, when we foto-captured lynx Teja and her kitten on their prey site. According to the data (time of lynx meetings, movement patterns of the female and the size of video-captured kitten), we conclude that the female had given birth around August 25th, which is very late and very rare for this species. We conclude that a very rarely detected phenomenon occurred when, due to unsuccessful fertilization or the absence of a male in the female’s territory at the time of mating, the arrival of the male triggered the mating even beyond the mating period. The mating between Teja and Goru probably occurred during the first week after their initial meeting in the first week of June. Unfortunately, in the first try we have not yet been able to obtain a non-invasive genetic sample of the kitten to confirm Goru’s paternity. Hopefully we get the sample in the next few weeks. Confirmation of Goru’s paternity would confirm the beginning of the integration of Carpatian lynx genetic material into the genetically depleted Dinaric lynx population, which would reduce the inbreeding problem and help save the North Dinaric lynx population.