At least ten-year-old female lynx Aurelja has two kittens this year

Co-author Irina Rotenko

Eight years ago, we began following an adult female lynx in the central-southern part of Naliboki Forest, in the localities of Jamna, Budy, and Barki, covering an area of about 40–60 square kilometers. We named her Aurelja. A Belgian volunteer once snow-tracked her with a kitten for several days. The volunteer’s name was Aurelja, and she asked us to name this mother lynx after her. We agreed.

Since then, we have taken thousands of photos and videos of Aurelja in many behavioral situations: nursing kittens, mating, caring for small kittens in her lair, playing, crossing rivers, and even adopting a kitten from another mother who had died.

Aurelja is still alive, and this year, despite her age, she looks healthy and is raising two kittens.

She gave birth in late May. Evidence suggests that her initial lair was a badger outlier located about 200 meters from a large badger sett. The burrow entrance had been enlarged by wolves a few years earlier.

Later, the kittens stayed in the hollow of a large dead oak, almost five meters above the ground.

Since October, Aurelja and her family have mainly stayed in two large treefalls. Their diet consists primarily of deer — roe deer and calves of red deer.