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Sunde, P.; Stener, S.O.; Kvam, T.
Tolerance to humans of resting lynxes _Lynx lynx_ in a hunted population
1998 Wildlife Biology (4): 177-183
The tolerance of lynx _Lynx lynx_ to human presence and disturbance in a hunted population in Norway was studied using telemetry. Forest land within 200 meters from the nearest road or house was avoided by lynx when resting (P<0.01). The tolerance distance of resting lynx towards intruding people was short (median 50 m), though strongly correlated with the horizontal vegetation cover (partial correlation, P<0.02) and forest maturation stage (partial correlation, P<0.02), but not with terrain inclination (partial correlation, P>0.03). The lynx did not enter steeper country (P>0.4) or alter their daily walking distance (P>0.7) after being distrubed. The data indicate that lynx, even when suffering extensive, man-induced mortality, may tolerate high human activity within their range as long as sufficient stands of undisturbed, mature forest with dense horizontal cover are present.
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