- Eurasian lynx is a carnivorous cat species present in barren, comparatively open, rocky mountainous plateau of Central Asia. In India, the lynx is present in some components of Ladakh and sightings of the cat have been very uncommon.
- Lynx often prey on Tibetan wooly hare, marmots, and Royle’s pika, feminine or juvenile ungulates, home sheep and goats. Their function within the meals chain entails regulating the populations of those prey species.
- Over a time frame, it’s estimated that the inhabitants of Eurasian lynx in India has gone down. Conducting a inhabitants survey of the elusive cat can also be tough compared to different cat species.
In February this 12 months, a video clip of a wildcat species surrounded by dogs in Ladakh went viral on social media. Many information retailers carried this clip of their ‘viral video’ sections. In the feedback on this video, folks have been curious to find out about this wild animal. Some guesses have been approach off the mark with these saying it’s a hybrid of a home canine and wolf. But there have been some who precisely recognized it because the Eurasian lynx.
Eurasian lynx or lynx is a carnivorous cat species present in barren, comparatively open, rocky mountainous plateau of Central Asia. In India, the lynx sub-species is present in some components of Ladakh and the sightings of the cat have been very uncommon as it’s sparsely distributed throughout its vary. Because of this, the cat will not be well-known, regardless of it being the second largest feline species in Ladakh, after the snow leopard.
According to Ladakh’s wildlife division, the lynx within the video was rescued and later launched within the wild. “That lynx was a little injured. So, we immediately rescued it and after a rehabilitation of 10-15 days we released it in its habitat successfully,” the Chief Wildlife Warden of Ladakh, Pankaj Raina instructed Mongabay-India.
A medium-size cat
There are six subspecies of Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) present in Europe and North-central Asia. The subspecies present in India is named the central Asian lynx (Lynx lynx isabellinus). It is also referred to as Turkestan lynx, Tibetan lynx or Himalayan lynx.
The Eurasian lynx is the most important species of the genus lynx and is listed as Least Concern within the IUCN Red List. The species is listed underneath Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act which implies it has the best degree of safety.
In Ladakh there are three main felids – snow leopard, being the most important cat, is the apex predator, the Eurasian lynx subspecies which is a medium measurement wildcat and Pallas’s cat which is a small wildcat. The Eurasian lynx present in Ladakh has long legs and massive paws. Its tail may be very quick and the ears have a black again with lengthy black hair tufts. The fur is yellowish with a faint and almost unmarked coat.
While different subspecies of Eurasian lynx are principally present in forested areas, the central Asian lynx or Himalayan lynx inhabits a barren surroundings.
The lynx often preys on Tibetan woolly hare, marmots and Royle’s pika, feminine or juvenile ungulates, home sheep and goats.
Talking concerning the significance of the lynx within the meals chain, Niazul H. Khan, a analysis scholar with Wildlife Institute of India (WII), defined, “Their role in the food chain involves regulating the populations of these prey species. By preying on these herbivores, lynxes help control their numbers, preventing overgrazing and habitat degradation. When lynx populations are healthy in the landscape, they can reduce the number of herbivores like hares and marmots which, in turn, can positively affect plant communities and the overall landscape.”
Finding the elusive lynx
The Eurasian lynx subspecies, domestically generally known as Eeh or Ee in Ladakhi, is discovered in several components of Ladakh such because the Changthang Wildlife Sanctuary, Tso-Kar basin, Hemis National Park and Nubra Valley, that are main habitats of the cat.
When it involves scientific information of lynx, there are only a few in India. One of the early ones is by an skilled on snow leopards and tigers, Raghu Chundawat, who recorded two lynx carcasses approach again within the Nineteen Eighties. Out of those two, one had died of pure causes and the opposite one was a retaliatory kill by locals to guard livestock. G.S. Rawat a professor at WII had noticed a lynx in Ladakh’s Tso-Kar Basin in 2002.
Researchers Trishna Dutta and Sandeep Sharma in 2004 noticed lynxes in Hemis National Park. “We had a good sighting of two adult and one sub adult lynx together, near Ganda-la base which is at an elevation of 4900 meters, in Hemis National Park, Ladakh, during our fieldwork on snow leopards in February 2004,” Dutta and Sharma wrote of their article.
“The two adult lynx were moving closer and following each other, while the sub-adult lynx was a little far from the adults. We could follow them with our spotting scope for about one hour. Initially they were moving along the ridgeline of the mountain then they came down on the southern slope of (the) mountain, which was interspersed with Caragana bushes,” they wrote describing their encounter.
In 2010, Amit Kotia, an assistant professor on the University of Rajasthan, encountered a lynx in Changthang’s Chushul village. “The habitat around the sighting location was typically xeric and dominated by Caragana, Eurotia, Artemisia, Tanacetum, Stipa, Oxytropis, Draba and Alyssum species,” Kotia described the situation in an article.
Apart from Ladakh, the cat was additionally spotted in Kashmir. In 2019, forest officers clicked an image of a lynx within the Dobaj forest space of South Kashmir’s Shopian district.
In the Kargil division of Ladakh, there have been solely casual experiences on the presence of lynx. However, in October 2020 a crew from the Wildlife Protection Division, Kargil, led by WII researcher Khan efficiently captured the primary photographic proof of Eurasian lynx in Rangdum valley of Kargil.
“This remarkable record of such a rare and elusive species carries profound implications for the conservation and effective management of lynx populations in the Kargil division of Ladakh,” stated Wildlife Warden, Kargil, Raza Ali Abidi.
Need for extra research and information
There is an pressing want for an in depth research of this elusive cat’s ecology for its efficient conservation within the trans-Himalayan area of India.
While information on the species is restricted, researchers speculate that the inhabitants of Eurasian lynx in India has gone down over a time frame. Conducting a inhabitants survey can also be tough compared to different cat species. “When I did the survey in the 1980s, there were good signs of lynx. We found so many carcasses and snares. But when I went to Nubra valley last year, there were not many signs this time around,” Chundawat stated.
“One difficulty in estimating the number of lynx is that its scat is difficult to find. It buries its scat like domestic cats, so it’s very difficult to look for it,” he added.
While speaking concerning the information and data available with the wildlife division of Ladakh about Eurasian lynx, Raina stated, “We have camera trap locations right now, with which we can draw a preliminary distribution map. We also have telemetry data so we can know about home range and activity patterns like when it gets active, what it eats, what it does not eat, after hunting how long it spends in that area.”
Talking concerning the sightings by trackers, vacationers and wildlife fans, chairman of Wildlife Conservation and Birds Club of Ladakh, Lobzang Visuddha, instructed Mongabay-India, “Eurasian lynx is one of the rare species, especially for India. It is found in Ladakh and there is no study, there is no data. We don’t even have its estimated population as of now. Most of the sightings so far are in Nubra valley and in Rumbak in Hemis National Park. In Nubra, the concentration is higher. We don’t know about its population, but locally people don’t know much about it.”
Banner picture: A digital camera entice picture of the Eurasian lynx in Ladakh. The Eurasian lynx is the most important species of the genus lynx. Photo by Forest, Ecology & Environment Department, Ladakh.
