This underestimated "cat" is actually an efficient "wolf-killing machine"!

Like most cats, lynxes are typical solitary animals. They usually live in caves and cracks in the high and cold mountainous areas, and have the habit of hiding during the day and coming out at night. The difference is that lynxes often hunt passively. They will choose a place where prey often passes by, and then quietly wait for the prey to come to them.

In fact, lynx has long been underestimated as a cat. In many popular science articles, you can still see similar descriptions such as "when lynx encounters a wolf attack, it often avoids it by climbing a tree or pretending to be dead." However, this is not the case. On the contrary, in the Naliboki Forest, lynx is the biggest enemy of forest wolves, especially the larger adult male lynx, which can be called an efficient "wolf-killing machine" and kills many more forest wolves than brown bears.

From the appearance, the most obvious feature of the lynx is the black tufts of hair on its ears, which look like antennas from a distance. Of course, the lynx's hair tufts are not decorations, they can help the lynx better collect the source of sound.

Since the lynx lives in the same environment as tigers, leopards and other big cats, once they encounter these two animals, the lynx will climb trees first. Although tigers and leopards can also climb trees, they cannot walk on small branches due to their size.

People are very puzzled. How could a wolf pack, which dares to attack such powerful beasts as tigers and brown bears, be defeated by a tiny lynx weighing only about 30 kilograms?

As the saying goes, "A tiger cannot defeat a pack of wolves." This means that no matter how powerful a tiger is, it cannot defeat a pack of wolves. Although this statement is a bit far-fetched (in fact, a solitary Siberian tiger can clear out wolves in its activity area, including a pack of wolves), it also shows the strength of the wolf pack from the side. The European forest wolf living in the Naliboki Forest, although also a gray wolf species, is much smaller than the gray wolf in North America. The weight of lynx is mostly concentrated between 18 and 30 kilograms, and males are larger than females, so most adult wolves in the forest are even comparable in size to larger adult lynxes.

The size difference is one thing, but the key is that the wolf must leave the lynx with opportunities for a duel or an ambush. However, in reality, the wolf did take the initiative to create such opportunities for the lynx.

Wolves are nominally social animals, but their wide distribution in the northern hemisphere is closely related to their strong adaptability. In the Naliboki Forest, during the cold season, when the number of small mammals in the forest is relatively small, wolves often choose to live in groups and rely on the advantages of the group to survive.

In the warm season from April to September, the number of small mammals in the forest is high, and lone wolves can also complete hunting well, and even better than pack wolves. Therefore, in this season, forest wolves mostly act alone, and the number of lone wolves exceeds the number of pack wolves.

Since the warm season is also the breeding season for lynx, during this season, adult lynx will increase their efforts to eliminate wolves in their habitats. Especially the paired adult male giant lynx will be more active in hunting and killing forest wolves.

Lynx is a medium-sized cat, similar in size to wolves, but one lives alone while the other lives in groups. It is understandable that tigers can suppress wolves with their large size, but it is unbelievable that tigers are replaced by lynxes. However, it is true that lynxes can suppress wolves, and even make them flee when they smell the scent of lynxes.

After 20 years of scientific investigation, zoologists divided the measured data into three time periods for comprehensive analysis. The specific data are as follows:

1999-2011: The lynx distribution density was 0.45 per square kilometer, and the survival rate of wolf cubs was 70%.

2012-2015: The lynx distribution density was 1.5 per square kilometer, and the survival rate of wolf cubs was 37%, a full 33% drop from the previous period, nearly half!

From 2016 to 2017, the lynx distribution density continued to increase, reaching 2 to 5 per square kilometer. At this time, the survival rate of wolf cubs dropped sharply to 4%, which is infinitely close to 0. This shows that the Eurasian gray wolves in this forest are almost extinct.

The fresh data is in front of us, which makes people wonder, were these wolves killed by lynxes?

According to a paper published by Belarusian zoologists, there are two points that prove that lynxes have a negative impact on wolves: first, during observation, zoologists observed a total of 16 records of lynxes killing wolves, of which 5 victims were adult female wolves; second, in areas where lynxes are active, wolves rarely appear. This is not the original distribution of the two, but the wolves gradually moved away from the lynx's active areas, which is also the origin of the wolves fleeing when they smell the scent of lynx.

Lynx often attack wolves by ambush. Even in a head-on confrontation, they are no less powerful than lone wolves due to their feline combat advantages. Due to the ambush and exclusion of lynx, scientists have found that the reproduction rate of wolves in the Naliboki Forest is very low. In winter, the mortality rate of wolf cubs is as high as 40% to 60%, and even reaches 90% in a few areas. In the same study area, lynx cubs have a survival rate of up to 80%, thanks to the protection of adult lynx and their active elimination of wolves that threaten the lynx cubs.

First, in 16 cases of lynx killing wolves, 11 of them were lynx attacking wolf cubs. Obviously, wolf cubs have no ability to resist the agile lynx. Lynx is a smart animal. They will quietly wait for the opportunity, and when the adult wolves leave the den (wolves choose dens to live in during the breeding season), they will sneak in quietly, hunt quickly, and then eat or carry away. This sneak attack method makes it difficult for adult wolves to defend themselves, and this is also the main reason why wolves will take the initiative to move away from lynx-active areas.

Second, forest wolves are typical social animals, but the forest wolves in the Nalipoki Forest live alone for nearly half a year a year. This is because the prey density in the Nalipoki Forest gradually increases starting in spring, and the wolf pack will disband and tend to act alone.

At this point, the lynx begins to act, and it always chooses to hunt weaker adult wolves, such as smaller female forest wolves, when the wolf pack separates. In the 16 records of lynx killing wolves, four of them were male lynx killing female gray wolves alone.

Therefore, by taking advantage of opportunities to kill cubs and defeating them one by one during the wolf's solitary period, the Eurasian lynx successfully frightened its most competitive opponent in the Nalipoki Forest. Even during the breeding season, female gray wolves would flee when they smelled the scent of lynx, partly because they were afraid of being killed alone and partly because they wanted to go back quickly to transfer their cubs.

All this information shows that lynxes are superior to wolves in every way. Of course, lynxes cannot be opponents of wolves, and even adult male lynxes will never attack wolves.

Affected by the slaughter of lynx, the wolf population in Naliboki Forest was limited in development and even stagnated for a time. For this reason, many gray wolves made strategic adjustments, such as no longer using open-air wolf dens, moving outside the forest to give birth, and young wolves continuing to live in their original families to take care of their cubs. Facts have proved that the implementation of these strategies has achieved good results to a certain extent.

The reason why lynxes can gain a greater advantage in the competition with wolves is largely due to the local environment. The Naliboki Forest has many fallen trees and dense vegetation, which is conducive to the concealment and movement of lynxes, but it is a disadvantageous factor for wolves.

There is no doubt that in the Naliboki Forest, where there are no tigers, brown bears are the strongest with their huge size advantage, but due to their eating habits, brown bears do not seem to have a strong desire to dominate. On the other hand, lynxes kill wolves, foxes, and raccoon dogs. Studies have found that lynxes kill an average of 12 raccoon dogs and 23 red foxes per year.

Here, the lynx has absolute dominance over a large number of small and medium-sized animals. Therefore, in the battle between the kings of beasts in this tiger-free forest, it is the undisputed king.