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:http://www.lhnet.org/eurasian-lynx/

: Eurasian Lynx Not too late to save him

: Eurasian Lynx

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While China and Russia had annual commercial exports of thousands of skins in the 1970s and 1980s, this trade has ended in

recent years. However, illegal skin trade remains the leading threat to the species, together with habitat loss and prey base depletion.

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SOS lynx Iberian Lynx conservation is a complex political and ecological issue that is changing over time. In order to help keep individuals and organisations up-to-date, and empower interested parties to campaign on behalf of the lynx, SOS lynx produces regular briefing papers/newsletters LynxBrief. Eurasian Lynx Online Information System for Europe The European Lynx Online Information System (ELOIS) is directly accessible through the homepages of the LCIE and KORA. Furthermore, it is available in an offline-version on CD ROM (including PDFs of the report) and as a printed report (KORA Bericht No. 19). Ordering information is to be found on the websites of the LCIE and KORA

Lynx have been released in several areas of Europe in an effort to reintroduce this elusive predator including in Switzerland, Slovenia, Italy, Czech Republic, Austria, Germany and France.

: 1. The Eurasian lynx is the biggest of the lynxes, ranging in

length from 80 to 130 cm Males usually weigh from 18-30 kg and females weigh 18 kg on average. . The tail measures 15 to 25 cm in length.

2. The Eurasian lynx has a very broad distribution from western Europe through the boreal forests of Russia, and down into central Asia and the Tibetan plateau. In central Europe, they survive only in the Carpathian Mountains and a small area of

the southern Dinaric Mountains in Greece, Macedonia and Albania. Throughout Europe and Siberia, lynx are associated primarily with forested areas which have good ungulate populations. In Central Asia lynx occur in more open, thinly wooded areas. Lynx are found throughout the rocky hills and mountains of the Central Asian desert regions.

3. The Eurasian lynx is the largest lynx, and the only one to primarily take ungulate prey, although they rely on smaller prey where ungulates are less abundant. In European Russia and western Siberia, where roe deer are absent, mountain hares and grouses form the basic prey base. Hares and birds are important prey also in other Central Asian regions where habitats are dryer and less forested. Lynx kill ungulates ranging in size from the 15 kg musk deer to 220 kg adult male red deer, but show a preference for the smallest ungulate species in the community. Lynx densities are typically 1-3 adults per 100 km, although higher densities of up to 5/100 km have been reported from eastern Europe and parts of Russia.

4. Females are sexually mature at the age of two years, whereas males usually mate for the first time at three years old. In nature, females reproduced at least until 14 years and males until 16-17 years.Lynx are reported to live up to 17 years in the wild, whereas in captivity they can reach an age of 25 years. The medium age of resident animals in a population however is much lower, about 4-5 years. 5. The European lynx population (excluding Russia) has been
estimated at 8,000. Populations in central and southern Europe are small and fragmented, although there are larger populations in Fennoscandia and the Baltic states. The lynx's stronghold is a broad strip of southern Siberian woodland stretching through eastern Russia from the Ural mountains to the Pacific, and the Russian lynx population has been estimated at 30,000-35,000. Although large portions of its range lie in China, status there is poorly known, and the government considers the population to be decreasing. While lynx presence in the Chinese region of Inner Mongolia is uncertain, in the country of Mongolia the lynx population is estimated at 10,000. The population estimate for the Eurasian lynx throughout its Eurasian range is approximately 48,000-53,000 individuals.