Choosing a name for a lynx can be a complex process. Romanian team had the opportunity to name the first female lynx captured in the scope of the LIFE Lynx project and here is how they chose it.
Teodora Sin from ACDB “Choosing the name was not easy, as we all came up with different ideas and we were not willing to give them up easily. Our team members suggested different names as Carpathina, Feleena, Victoria, Dava, Néa, and Teodora, but we could not agree which is the best. On the way back from the last lynx we captured, the idea of coming up with a name that meant ‘the return’ popped into our heads – starting from the fact that this female’s purpose is to help the lynx return to an area where it had been missing for such a long time.
While searching for the name, Aida* popped-up among the suggestions and given the fact that all the other meanings are a perfect match for our distinguished female lynx, it was a keeper (after an -almost- democratic last vote). And besides, thanks to Verdi’s Aida, it is easy to remember and to pronounce.”
LIFE Lynx project team hopes that the name will bring her luck, that she will have a long, happy life in the Alps, and she will be an important link in connecting the existing populations in the Dinaric-Alpine region.
*Aida ~ appears to be of Arabic roots, meaning “the one who returns”. It can also mean “helpful”, “happy”, “gift”, or “noble”, “distinguished”.
Aida. Photo: Andrei Dinu, ACDB