Within the LIFE Lynx project, we translocated a total of seven lynx, all males, to Slovenia and Croatia. Out of five lynxes released this year, at least three have already established their territory.
After last year’s release in Loški potok, Goru established his territory in Mala gora area in the Kočevje region. He is still roaming this area today. He shares his territory with resident female lynx Teja, who had his kitten (female Mala) last year. During this year’s mating season, Goru also went to Croatia, where we hope that he mated with as many females as possible. This year we also expect to detect new Teja’s litter, for which we hope it’s from Goru.
After being released in the Risnjak National Park in Croatia, Doru established a territory in the Javorniki area (Slovenia). We monitored him in this area until January 2020, but since then we no longer detected the signal of his collar or recorded him otherwise. Unfortunately, we still do not know what happened to him.
Catalin, who was translocated from Romania this year and released into the Snežnik forests at the end of winter, has established his territory in the Menišija and Rakitna area (Slovenia).
Lynx Alojzije was the first lynx to arrive in Croatia this year. He was released in the area of the Paklenica National Park. Shortly after his release, he established his territory in the area of Sveti Rok (Croatia).
Boris is a young lynx that was released this year in Loški Potok in Slovenia. After the release, he headed south and crossed the border with Croatia, where he stayed for some time in the area of Gorski Kotar in the vicinity of Gerovo. Recently, however, he moved southeast, indicating that he has not yet established his territory. We continue to follow his movement with the help of a telemetry collar.
Lynx Pino was the first lynx in the project to be translocated from Slovakia. He was released in Croatia, in Northern Velebit. Unfortunately, the collar stopped working immediately after the release, so for now, we have no data on his movement.
Lynx Maks was the last lynx released into the wild this year. He comes from Slovakia and was released from a quarantine enclosure in the Snežnik forests in Slovenia. Shortly after his release, he appears to have established territory in the Javorniki area (Slovenia) in the same area that was previously occupied by Doru.
The map with current distributions of translocated lynx. For lynx with established territories, these are shown as polygons. Lynx Boris is still searching for his territory, so his path since release is shown. For Pino, whose collar has malfunctioned, only the release site is indicated. Photo: Lan Hočevar, LIFE Lynx
The next lynx capture season starts in Romania and Slovakia at the end of this year and will last until the beginning of spring 2021. We hope that the third season of lynx capturing will be as successful as the first two while keeping our fingers crossed to capture and translocate some females.