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Movement pattern and home range use by the Eurasian lynx in Białowieża Primeval Forest (Poland)

2002; Finnish Zoological and Botanical Publishing Board; Volume: 39; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

1797-2450

Włodzimierz Jędrzejewski, Krzysztof Schmidt, Henryk Okarma, Rafat Kowalczyk,

Animal Behavior and Reproduction

The movement patterns of free-living lynx, Lynx lynx, were studied by radiotelemetry in Bialowieza Primeval Forest, Poland. Eighteen lynx were fitted with radio-collars and their Movements were recorded by continuous 24-hsequences and daily relocations. On average, lynx moved 7.2 km per day, and males covered longer distances than females (9.0 and 6.8 km, respectively). In males, the daily movement distances were 56% longer during the mating season (January-March) than during the rest of the year. Females moved 43% longer distances during the period of intensive care for kittens (May-August) than in other periods. Males covered longer routes than females and stayed far from the location of the previous day. Females' movements were more concentrated as they moved intensively but stayed close to the previous day's location. The lynx travelled with an average speed of 1.2 km h - 1 with males moving faster than females (1.5 and 1.0 km h - 1 , respectively). Males travelled even faster (on average 1.9 km h - 1 ) during the mating season. During a day lynx utilised an area comprising only 1.7%-2.6% of their annual home range. The home ranges were used with rather low intensity (31 to 50 m of lynx route per 1 km 2 of home range), still lower in males than in females. The lynx moved the longest distances (14 km day - 1 , on average) on days when they failed to kill large prey, and the shortest ones (2.8 km day-') on the first day after making a kill. The results suggest that males tend to maximise their reproductive success by increasing an opportunity to meet receptive females, whereas females increase their reproductive success via adjusting their behaviour to the needs of kittens.