The Animal of the Year 2018 is the extremely beautiful Eurasian Lynx. Although quite widespread in Estonia, their presence remains largely unnoticed due to their low abundance and hidden lifestyle.
Similar to other big predators the presence of the Lynx is often thought to be associated with only empty wild areas of forest, but in Estonia, Lynx is not so fearful of humans. A well-established landscape with fields and forests is also well-suited for the Lynx, and in the darkness, his pathways can pass within the vicinity of quiet human dwellings. A Lynxes territory, which in Estonia is several hundred square kilometres, must be at least half covered with forest because they prefer to move and hunt within the cover of woodlands and also as safe areas to rest and raise their cubs (Source: Protected areas of Estonia).
Lynx – animal of the year – has been always held to be a mysterious and rare creature. I myself have seen them only once through a car window. As the options of video recording keep improving, the animal is being caught on camera more frequently. We want to share a story about radio-collaring lynxes by scientists and nature tourist recordings of the feline hunting deer.
ReWild, a spin-off from University of Tartu, researches animals in the wild:
Ilves on üks kõige salapärasematest Eesti loomadest. Suurkiskja, kelle kodu on mitmesaja ruutkilomeetrine metsamaastik. Uurime ilvest selleks et teada paremini, mida ta eluks vajab, millised on suhted teiste liikide ja inimesega. Nii on võimalik edukalt teostada looduskaitse- ja jahikorraldust. Noor isane ilves Lemps asub telemeetriaseadme vahendusel koguma informatsiooni üksildase eluviisiga looma kodupiirkonna kasutuse ja toitumise kohta.Koostöös OÜ Rewild, Keskkonnaagentuur ja Tartu Ülikool.Video eest tänud Britta Kalganile.•••Lynx is one of the most mysterious animals in Estonia. A large carnivore, whose home is several hundreds square kilometers of forest landscape. We study the lynx to know better what they need for living, and how they relate to other species and human. It is the way for successful nature protection and game management. The young male lynx Lemps with telemetry device starts collecting information about use of home range and foraging of the secluded species.Collaboration of Rewild Ltd, Estonian Environment Agency and University of Tartu.•••www.rewild.ee
Posted by Rewild on Reede, 14. aprill 2017
The lynx from an earlier video, having been caught for scientific monitoring. Being tracked via a GPS GSM, the collar will be sending valuable research data about central-Estonian forest life for a year.
In the same time, nature tourists from Netherlands (led by travel guide Martin Piispea) caught a rare footage of lynx attacking deer. The group had been photographing and admiring the local nature for 5 days.
Lahemaal filmiti lõik sellest, kuidas ilves kitsi ründab. Haruldase hetke said videole hollandlased, kes retkejuhi Martin Piispea juhtimisel Eestis 5 päeva loodust vaatlesid ja pildistasid.Video: Stefan Pronk"See juhtus Lahemaal. Õhtune plaan oli minna karu otsima," meenutab Martin Piispea. "Kaks retkelist aga otsustasid, et ei tule metsa jala sumpama, vaid lähevad autoga õhtul ringi sõitma. Näitasin kaardil 2-3 põldu, kus tasub ringi kolada ja vaadata. Seal on nähtud rebasest karuni ja põdrast ilveseni. Kolmekesi metsas sumbates hakkas aga sõnumeid tulema autoseltskonnalt – nähti rebast, kitsi, ja siis kirjutati suurte tähtedega LYNX. Ilves jalutas rahulikult üle põllu. Ja nad said ilvest vaadata oma 20-25 minutit, kes kõndis ja seisis ja siis peitis enda ära rohu sisse. Kitsed olevat tulnud 10 minuti pärast ja edasine on juba video peal. Kahjuks sellel reisil jäi neil karu nägemata, aga ilvese filmimine korvas selle kuhjaga."Ilveseuurija Raido Kont:Filmile jäädvustati väga põnev ja haruldane moment.Tundub, et ilves ei otsustanud rünnata mitte kõige lähemat metskitse, vaid seda, kes oli tema poole parajasti seljaga. Kõige huvitavam, et kui saagi tabamine ilvesel esimese sööstuga ei õnnestunud, siis ei kujutanud ta kitsedele enam ohtu ning need jäid ärritunult sama lähedale seisma. Võrdluseks võib mõelda, et kui põllul söövad metskitsed inimest märgates põgenevad, siis jooksevad nad tavaliselt kuni varju pakkuva metsani.
Posted by Aasta Loom on Teisipäev, 12. juuni 2018
„It happened in Lahemaa. Plan of the evening was to look for a bear,” recalls Martin Piispea. „However, two travellers decided not to proceed on foot and go for an evening car ride instead. I showed marked two fields on the map, for seeing animals. People have encountered there animals from foxes to bears, mooses and lynxes. As the rest of us were walking in the forest, we started getting messages about sightings of fox, deer and then LYNX in capital letters. The creature walked across the field. They were able to observe the animal for 20-25 minutes. It walked, then stood and then vanished into grass. We didn’t see the beaf unfortunately but clips of the lynx was totally worth it.”
Comment from Lynx researcher Raido Kont (on the photo attaching a radio-collar, also featured in the first video of this post):
“An exciting and rare moment was caught on camera. It seems the lynx didn’t choose to attack the closest deer, but the on with back turned towards him. Most interesting was the fact that after the Lynx missed catching the prey with its first attack, he stopped being a threat to the other deer, so they remained standing nearby by, irritated. For a comparison, when deer are eating on the field and run away from humans, they usually run until reaching the cover of the forest.”
Randel Kreitsberg, PhD in zoology, is a senior specialist for science communication at the University of Tartu and an author at ERR Novaator. This article was first published on the zoologists’ blog Zooloogid 2.0.
