Species fact sheet

Lynx lynx

Biology:

Size:   

Reproduction:   

Diet:   

Social organisation: 

   Home ranges:    

 Males 18 – 25 kg / Females 12 – 16 kg

 Mating: March

 Birth: May - June

 Litter size: 1-4, normally 2-3

 Strictly carnivorous: roe deer, chamois, red deer, hares, forest birds

 domestic sheep, semi-domestic reindeer.

 Solitary and territorial - little overlap with members of same sex.

 Vary from 120 to 1800 km² for males and 80 to 500 km² for females.

2500 - 

1000 - 

2800 - 

<100 -

130 -

75 -

120 -

80 -

20 - 

 Nordic (Norway, Sweden, Finland)

 Baltic (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, NE Poland)

 Carpathians (Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Serbia)

 Balkan (Albania, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro)

 Dinaric (Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina)

 Bohemian - Bavarian (Czech Republic, Germany, Austria)

 Alpine (Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, France, Italy)

 Jura (Switzerland, France)

 Vosges - Palatinian (France, Germany)

In addition, there some small occurences in central Poland, central Germany and northern Czech Republic.

Only the Nordic, Baltic, Carpathian and Balkan populations are indigenous, the others are the result of reintroductions.

(1) Throughout Europe poaching is one of the major threats to lynx survival.

(2) In countries such as Norway, Estonia, Latvia and Romania lynx are hunted. There is a need to ensure that quotas here remain at a sustainable level.

(3) The Balkan population is very small, completely isolated, and lives in habitats with a poor prey base. This population is the one of greatest concern in Europe today.

(4) Lynx in some parts of their range (e.g. NE Poland, Belarus and Lithuania) have a very fragmented distribution, living in forest patches isolated from each other by farmland.