IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group - Digital Cat Library |
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| Krofel, M.; Kos, I.; Linnell, J.; Odden, J.; Teurlings, I. | |
| Human kleptoparasitism on Eurasian lynx (_Lynx lynx_ L.) in Slovenia and Norway | |
| 2008 Varstvo Narave (21): 93-103 | |
Throughout their evolution, humans have scavenged the remains of prey killed by large carnivores. Such human kleptoparasitism is still occurring nowadays, however, the reasons for it today are more diverse than the simple acquisition of food. The phenomenon is very poorly documented and most of the data available come for Africa and Asia. In this paper we present data of human kleptoparasitism on kills made by Eurasian lynx (_Lynx lynx_) in two contrasting regions of Europe, Slovenia and Norway, gathered from different sources. Due to their relatively small size and prolonged consumption process, Eurasian lynx is particularly vulnerable to human kleptoparasitism. The collected data suggest that people relatively often find prey remains of lynx in both countries. While in Norway they normally leave it at the kill site, in Slovenia they usually remove it and thereby prevent the lynx from finishing their consumption of the prey. Reasons for removal include their use for human or dog food, use as a bait for attracting other carnivores, to get authorities to do autopsy, to 'clean the environment', or to get 'revenge' on the lynx. We assume that although the extent of human kleptoparasitism is not such that it could lead to starvation of individual lynx, it probably increases the predation rate of lynx, which in turn leads to greater energy expenditure sustained during hunting and may also increase the conflicts with hunters due to higher pressure on game species. |
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