How was the lynx, Europe’s largest cat, saved from extinction?

The lynx is the largest wild cat in Europe.

It is the big cat that has thick brown fur sprinkled with dark spots, and it has distinctive tufted ears.

In forests in Slovenia, the lynx is endangered.

Rok Černe from The Slovenia Forest Service explains how successful it was.

Why is the presence of large animals (bears, wolves, lynxes) so important?

It is important for the ecosystem because it increases biological diversity and the diversity of habitats.

The lynx is a predator that helps maintain a healthy population of wild ungulates and direct the evolution of its prey, such as roe deer.

Different species have different roles in the ecosystem, so it is important to preserve each one of them.

Humans have an important moral duty not to exterminate species and to preserve them for future generations.

Rok Černe

Why is the lynx endangered?

In the past, they died out in Slovenia due to hunting and destruction of their habitat. Then, in 1973, hunters and foresters brought them back.

The repopulation at that time was successful, but their numbers began to dwindle again when they had problems with inbreeding.

How successful was the LIFE Lynx project?

Before the project started, Slovenia had only 20 adult lynxes.

Over six years of the project, we brought 18 Carpathian lynxes to Slovenia and Croatia and recorded more than 24 litters of immigrated lynxes.  

Rok Černe

Now it is estimated that there are around 50 adult lynxes in Slovene forests.

With the new ones, we increased the genetic diversity of the population. This will help to keep them with us in the future.

Glossary

Habitat  is the living environment of an individual species.

Evolution is the change of organisms from simpler forms to more complete ones.

A predator is an animal that hunts and eats other animals.

Prey is the animal that is being hunted; the opposite of predator.

Wild ungulates are a group of large mammals with hooves.

Points to Consider

1. Which animals live in forests near you?
2. What are some characteristics of predators?
3. Which animals are ungulates?

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The original version of this article was published on 11^th June.