Co-author Irina Rotenko
Quite often clearcuts in Naliboki Forest are full of logging remains. Moreover, sometimes loggers forget one or several piles of logs and they stay there for decades. It is always like a gift for lynxes, particularly the species families. The main benefit of lynx family is that mother may leave small kittens there, and they will be safe alone in the emptiness under the logs, when the mother goes for hunting. It is especially essential, because lynxes frequently use a long-lasting hunting from ambuscades, so, kittens need to wait for the mother quite long.
These photos that you see in the post were taken in such a spot. The late May of this year me and my wife and lynx-assistant Irina Rotenko discovered lynx lair in boggy pine stand at the clearcut. The den was situated between logs (logged pines) densely overgrown by Ledum palustre shrubs. Later the kittens were hidden by mothers under piles of logs that were abandoned by loggers on the clearcut. There were found remains of three different roe deer that were eaten by the lynxes on the log piles. So, the log piles provided both sheltered stay of kittens, when the mother is absent for hunting, and safe eating of the prey that brought by the mother. So, loggers, please, remember about lynxes.
