Caucasian lynx filmed in eastern Turkey

KARS

A Caucasian lynx, which is an endangered species, was spotted in the Scots pine forests in the eastern province of Kars’ Sarıkamış district on Dec. 7.

Called “the ghost of the forest” because it hunts at night and rests during the day, the journey of the Caucasian lynx along the snow-covered terrain of the Scots pine forests, which are home to several wild animals, was filmed by the state-run Anadolu Agency.

Emrah Çoban, a science coordinator at the Kuzeydoğa Association, said that as part of the Northeast Anatolia’s Biodiversity Conservation Project, studies have been ongoing on Caucasian lynxes.

“Lynxes are very sensitive animals and are known as the ghosts of the forest. They can’t be observed during the day because they hunt at night and rest during the day. They become more visible in their breeding time in winter,” Çoban said, adding that the latest monitoring of the lynx spotted coincided with the mating season.

Stating that they caught 15 lynxes in seven years in the Sarıkamış district, he said: “Some of the lynxes we track by satellite transmitter are females. Especially in this season, we try to observe them by tracking their footprints in the snow and get closer to them with the signals received from the satellite.”

The Sarıkamış district is a very important place in Turkey for lynxes as its forests are a natural habitat of both Eurasian and Caucasian lynxes, Çoban noted.

“We cannot say anything about the population of lynxes in Sarıkamış because we are at the beginning stage of the study,” he added.