😸 International Lynx Day 😸

On the occasion of International Lynx Day, we would like to share with you our knowledge from the field, namely:

❗️SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE REINTRODUCTION OF THIS SPECIES IN WESTERN POMERANIA, WE HAVE RECORDED THE BIRTH OF OVER 8️⃣0️⃣ LYNX KITTENS❗️

This means that between 2019 and 2023, at least 81 lynxes were born in the wild. This is very important to us because the growth of the population depends primarily on the successful reproduction of lynxes.

📌Do not think that the 80 kittens we know about are all there is. We are not able to monitor all lynxes telemetrically and we cannot prove everything 100%, but we are convinced that in reality this is only a fraction of the young lynxes that were born in Western Pomerania. At the beginning of our efforts to reintroduce this species, we did not put collars on lynxes born in the wild, and they are certainly reproducing, so more young lynxes have been born. We know for sure about these 81.

🐾In 2019, the first year of the project, the first kittens were born.

🐾Two years later, the lynx Hyża gave birth to 4 kittens for the first time, which was the first case of such a number of kittens in one litter recorded by us.

🐾And in 2023, as many as four female lynxes gave birth to four kittens each, and one gave birth to five kittens (which is a world first).

🐾In 2023, we also recorded the first two cases of less than one-year-old females breeding and successfully raising their offspring.

 

To sum up: 2019 – 2 kittens, 2020 – 6, 2021 – 17, 2022 – 25, 2023 – 31❗️

🐱This year's breeding season is still ongoing, and we will report on its results once we have the relevant information.

Of course, not all of the kittens survived, but today is not the time for sad news, only positive ones.

📌Our programme has a real impact on increasing the number of lynxes not only in Poland, but throughout Europe. In a report submitted to the European Commission in 2019, 117 lynxes were recorded in Poland! Today, we know that we can increase this number by 90 individuals, as this is our estimate of the population size in north-western Poland!

On this special day, we wish all lynxes the greatest reproductive success 🐱😊

P.S. While writing this post, we remembered a few stories from the field about ‘discovering’ the births of lynxes whose mothers are not monitored telemetrically, and we decided that we would treat you to one of them in the near future 😊