Link with the Lynx - The Secrets of Nature

in a solitary forest deep in the heart of slovakia a man and his dog trudged through the snow milaj maida is searching milash has a soft spot for hunters provided they walk on four legs so he raised two lynxes and set them free of maturity now he is anxious to know whether they made it these remote and peaceful valleys are his home milosh works for the national park and he is an expert tracker but he can't find so much as a trace he never imagined this possibility back when the story began the story of milosh and the linksys this log cabin sits in the malefactor national park it has neither electricity nor running water nor is there a cell phone reception in the narrow valley nevertheless this inaccessible site hosted an exceptional experiment gamekeeper milos maida spent two unforgettable years here he sweat and froze he chopped wood and like tons of food he was scratched and bitten also that he could return two feline predators to freedom the goal of the project was to raise two young eurasian lynxes and return them to the wild they were to come from a european zoo preferably when a female lynx gave birth to a large enough litter so that she could keep some of her young eventually we found one in the czech ostrava that had just given birth to four kittens an unusually large number because we had good relations with the zoo the director was willing to trust us with two of them we were ready to do everything humanly possible to return these two lynxes to the wild story the extraordinary links quartet is born in the ostrava zoo in june 2008. two of them remain with their mother and two are for milosh the zoo in the czech city of ostrova on the order river is a paradise for animal lovers for decades the zoo has been acknowledged by experts for its successful breeding of lynxes lynxes are threatened with extinction all over europe the linx's first trip is brief they travel in a basket from the enclosure to a quarantine station in the zoo milosh insisted on getting two lynxes he expected the siblings to form a team learning from each other and consequently not growing attached to him or any other humans and here they are lisa and her brother muro six weeks old and weighing about one and a half kilograms for the first few days lisa and murrah cry heart-rendingly they call for their mother over and over again it's the project's first step and probably the most dangerous will the kittens come to terms with the separation and will they accept food so the trickiest aspect of raising them was undoing their existing relationship with their mother it was particularly challenging to forge a connection between the kittens and us because they imprint on their mother during the first few weeks of their life feeding them with anything but mother's milk was difficult they just didn't want to eat we tried different kinds of milk but without success eventually we resorted to whipping cream which they accepted and digested well except we couldn't raise them on whipping cream alone of course fortunately they also accepted minced meat things weren't easy at first but eventually over time they started eating normally and gaining weight lisa and murrow are moving again this time from the czech republic to slovakia into miloshi's city apartment in donikubin raising them is a balancing act if they are going to be able to survive in the wilderness they can't become domesticated on the other hand they need to trust milosh since he is their mother's replacement from providing food to developing their hunting skills we took the lynxes into our home for about a month for the simple reason of fostering the closest possible relationship between us this was critical so that we could raise them and also be sure they would return to us once they were old enough to make forays into the forest foreign their mother the zoo and the czech republic are long forgotten and they have hardly arrived before lisa and muro start to redesign the apartment do lisa's favorite spot is on the shelf the table is mura's headquarters even at this early stage of their lives the lynxes demonstrate a clear need for their own territory so during their stay in the apartment the lynxes never grow trusting or tame milosh is able to touch or pet the siblings only while they are playing together otherwise he is attacked scratched or bitten milash learns as fast as his hostellings in order to bathe two energetic kittens with sharp claws he invents amongst other things the lynx shower as long as the lynxes were in quarantine we had to provide for their regular hygiene to keep them from getting sick at first we didn't really know how to clean them daily just grabbing and washing them wasn't going to work they would have scratched us to ribbons but we knew that lynx is like water and they loved the transportation cage so i decided to simply put them in the cage and wash them there they had no problem with that actually quite the contrary as soon as they saw the cage they voluntarily got inside because they knew it was time for a shower soon both milos and the apartment are exhausted high time for another move the center of slovakia where the carpathian mountains gently rise to the east is home to the velkafatra and malafatra national parks while these densely wooded mountains are extensively managed and a hunter's paradise they still have enough room for big predators like bears wolves and links this territory also belongs to milosh and his alsatian mix leela a few weeks earlier milos saved leela from an overcrowded animal shelter literally at the last moment just before she would have been put to sleep milash knows every tree here and every eagle he is an expert in the breeding and protection of raptors his knowledge is in high demand and he consults with national parks all over europe in the malaphatra he heads the conservation program for golden eagles up to 30 breeding pairs inhabit these forests occasionally milos climbs to one of their nests to remove one of the eggs to be raised by humans golden eagles always rear only one chick at a time the weaker sibling will soon be pushed out of the nest golden eagles frequently keep not only one but several nests usually four to five we have a couple in slovakia though with 18 nests which is extreme and quite rare i've been taking care of this couple here for many years they return to their nest every year to breed the eagles settled in very well here people are familiar with them because they always nest in the same area and have done so very successfully for 14 years the two young lynxes remain in milosh's care for a year then step by step they will be released into the wilderness milos built them an enclosure directly at the window in front of the house where they will spend a few months their journey into the wilderness starts with a timid step from the windowsill from now on lisa and muro attend school outdoors milos and his assistants catch dozens of mice every day and deliver them to the enclosure this is how the lynx is learnt to hunt during the first few months the link says spend a great deal of time in the cabin as there is plenty to do inside within just a few weeks lisa amuro have grown from kittens to wild linksys leela knows exactly who is in charge here when muro starts to romp it is time to take off lisa sunbathes on the windowsill while muro kills a mattress the differing temperaments of the siblings are already clear feeding link says is dangerous milash always locks the siblings away before he brings the meat into the room or they would immediately attack him hunters don't wait until dinner is served they come and get it muro and lisa polish off one or two chickens each day the meat is immediately transformed into energy and mass at the age of six months lisa weighs seven kilograms a mural eight fitness training a la linx powerhouse mural leaps effortlessly from a standstill to a beam below the ceiling his sister lisa however seems a little hesitant at first hmm the almost full-grown lynxes are slowly getting bored but things will change soon their days in the cabin are numbered tomorrow their private training grounds will expand considerably do milash plans to enlarge their territory in increments the new electric fence stretches from the cabin across the river and far into the forest milash doesn't realize that the lynxes have their own plans milos opens the door to the world at least to the world within the electric fence mural is released first he doesn't seem quite able to trust that there is really an exit here but after his initial diffidence muro gets down to business he takes a running start casually leaps over the electric fence and takes a bath in the river milash can't believe his eyes the expensive and elaborately engineered fence worthless not that the electric fence doesn't work it deals out reliable electric shocks at every touch but muro isn't attempting to get out of the enclosure here he's trying to get in after the excitement of the shocks muro immediately returns to the cabin where apparently he feels safe it's still too early for both lynxes to take the final step to freedom milos changes his strategy now he plans to release only one links at a time while the other remains in the enclosure the siblings are deeply attached to each other and the one on day parole won't abandon the other in captivity they will always return to make the cabin's environs more attractive for the lynxes milos sets up cages full of quail and chicken and the trick works the relationship between the lynxes and leela is deep but not always smooth leela remains hopelessly outmatched miura bites off a small piece of her right ear during a brawl and lisa gives her a similar wound on the left nevertheless the lynxes clearly accept leela or they would have made short work of her long before the velkafatra endures a harsh climate the first snow falls as early as october milos and his wife erica try to get the simple cabin halfway ready for the winter so for lisa and muro it's the first winter that they have ever seen and the last one with the heater time and again they flee the cold of the outdoor enclosure hurrying through the window and into the cabin to study the lynx's future territory milos sets up camera traps around the cabin and throughout the nearby forest we set up the camera traps to see what animals are near the cabin at night we had no idea about that before we wanted to find out if there are wild lynxes bears and so on here we installed the traps in the immediate vicinity and also further afield to determine what animals are living in the wild here most of all we wanted to use the traps after we released the lynxes though in hopes that the photo evidence would show that they were still alive the cadaver placed as bait attracts the hunters of the forest foxes golden eagles martins and a wild lynx winter seizes the carpathians with an iron grip but as soon as the sun and blue skies return the bitterly cold forests transform into a sparkling magical garden well protected by their winter coats lisa and miura begin to explore the wilderness we took the lynxes ever deeper into the forest to familiarize them with their new surroundings the terrain the light the smells one of the siblings always stayed at home as security here muro is on day parole uh for milosh an unforgettable year comes to a close only by the end of april does the sun finally win the upper hand in the cold valleys and spring returns the common frogs are unmistakable messengers of spring they have hardly shaken off their winter torpor when they begin to mate quite suddenly and in huge numbers frogs ready to mate jump across the national parks only street since traffic is light anyway this causes only minor jams the first weeks following winter are the most difficult phase of the project the wilderness is calling but milash wants to release lisa and miura as late as possible fully grown well-fed and expert at hunting the siblings are still inseparable and neither wants to be apart from the other for long later in the wilderness the siblings will become competitors lynxes are frequently loners the territories of males often overlapping with those of one or two females links always mark the same trees with their scent establishing them as the boundary posts of their territory their most obvious characteristic the tufts on their ears improve their sound localization a lynx can hear the rustle of a mouse from a distance of 50 meters and precisely identify its position too lisa and muro can hardly be persuaded to return home anymore their excursions grow longer and longer soon it is clear that it's only a question of days until they will disappear into the forest milosh takes both lynxes into the wild only in exceptional cases leela helps too the link says always follow their friend in the end milosh keeps experimenting with new strategies to lure them back to the cabin he lays a track with meat scraps leaving a mouthful here and there but never enough to make them fall so these excursions are a kind of workshop for the young lynxes milos takes them through their territory and points out tracks of various prey animals to teach them to associate smells at the same time the exercise serves as a fitness program so the lynxes will be in top condition before the winter meanwhile lisa and miuro are almost fully grown mura stands about 50 centimeters high at the shoulder and weighs 17 kilograms lisa is somewhat smaller and lighter over time we had more and more problems luring them back to the cabin without leela the lynxes probably would have taken off in no time they were wild animals after all and practically independent after half a year their first excursions lasted barely 20 minutes now the lynxes are practically gone the whole day milash and his wife take shifts in walking taking both lynxes into the forest at the same time would be disastrous but as long as he keeps either the brother or sister waiting in the enclosure milage thinks he can control the situation long enough to give the lynxes a little bit more time to develop milash can't devote all his working time to the lynxes alone the eagles need his attention too the national park runs both a breeding installation for eagles and also a kind of hospital for them injured raptors are cared for here like this female golden eagle despite all legal bans and prohibitions she was shot by poachers first the eagle is weighed at only four kilograms the female eagle is fairly light she probably hasn't eaten anything for days each of the four game keepers manages about 20 eagle pairs throughout the year thus the injured female was discovered just in time the eagle remains surprisingly relaxed during her treatment presumably because she has known the game keeper for a long time apparently the eagle hurt her wing when she fell it will take some time before she is restored to full health in the meantime a small drama is unfolding at the cabin muro howls and calls for his sister but in vain lisa had always advanced a little deeper into the forest than muro and on her last trip she suddenly vanished yes hey a few days later lisa suddenly appears again it will be her last visit to the cabin so lisa and muro love nothing more than playing in the water at the bridge obviously not all cats are afraid of water swimming tigers are familiar sights from numerous nature documentaries but swimming lynxes are new late summer offers idyllic scenes like from a fairy tale milos works the links is play and romp in the grass and leela gets her usual treatment they look almost like an inseparable family but these scenes are deceptive it's not just any dreamy summer day but the last one that they will spend together late in the afternoon the lynxes stroll to the river wander along the edge of the forest and finally vanish in the darkness of the trees lisa and muro behave just as expected they however the separation still comes too soon the day the lynxes didn't return from their trip it was clear that it was probably for good we admittedly hoped they would appear again but after they had been gone for a week without a trace we knew that they had already learned to catch smaller animals or to live on the prey of bears or other links our greatest fear however wasn't that they would starve at all but that some hunter might shoot them or they get hit by a car these are the real dangers that exist every year hundreds of wild animals are killed this way suddenly a lead in silence weighs over the small cabin at the river lynx born in the wild leave their mother at the age of about 14 months the first days of their independence are the most dangerous time in their lives and many don't survive it seems as if leela knows and worries a few weeks later milaj starts looking for lisa and muro he wants to know how his fosterlings have done for weeks they seem to have vanished without a trace but then milosh discovers a promising hint there are many forestry workers in this valley they log wood or plant new trees some of them reported seeing lynxes which according to the description could be ours so that was our only clue a few strangers saw some lynxes here such sightings usually last for only fractions of a second there are simply extremely shy animals that avoid contact with humans which on the other hand we were happy about ultimately all that could give us solid proof that our lenses were still alive were our camera traps in late summer the velkafatra and malafatra mountains are frequently lashed by rain and thunderstorms milosh has seen happier times the lynxes are impossible to trace and it's raining relentlessly for days even weeks science is not certain about much regarding the behavior of links but it's suspected that the hunting territory can reach up to 100 square kilometers in extent as milos already guessed tracking down the links in such a large area is practically impossible everyone's spirits are at a low point demilash suddenly gets a welcome distraction he has a new guest apart from raising wild lynxes and protecting endangered species we also devote our energies to wild cats we have already released a few peers in slovakia that were born in zoos in the czech republic and we plan to release more wild cats in the future after the lynx is vanished we took in this small wild cat and studied it because the behavior of wild cats is still very little researched experts predicted that it would stay with us for a month at most but it remained for a total of six months so we had a wild cat guest for half a year until the 1930s wildcats were regarded as destructive predators and were almost wiped out today the wildcat is a protected species it shares the habitat preferences of the links and consequently the same problem large natural forests with old trees are virtually non-existent today and there is yet another thing wildcats have in common with links their fondness for water so half a year later her life as a house cat is over in the end she probably succumbed to the charms of a male wild cat that appeared in the area one day he hung around for about two weeks then his traces vanished as did our wild cat do by autumn milosh's patience finally wears thin something has to happen he decides to build a trap to catch at least one of the lynxes provided they are still alive and in the vicinity he plans to briefly sedate the trapped links and equip it with a radio collar thus milosh would be able to follow miura or lisa over the coming months and study their wanderings and territorial behavior but for the time being it's all theory once again milosh has to slog through the surrounding forests in search of any signs of life of lisa or mural many kilometers downpours and disappointments later milash finally discovers what he has been seeking for so long at a fallen tree he spies definite scratch marks they are undoubtedly from the links but from which leela looks pleased and excited too does she smell her old friends it's quite possible since the scratch marks aren't far from the cabin but milosh wants to be absolutely sure winter and cold arrive overnight again six months have passed since the two lynxes vanished into the forest if lisa and mura are still alive they would be one and a half years old now strong lynx is in their prime winter now becomes an ally the snow records every track we found lynx tracks in the surrounding valleys and later near the cabin too but we couldn't tell for sure whether they were from our lynxes judging by their size it would have been quite possible apparently a lynx is sneaking around the cabin at night would another one dare come this close or was it really lisa or muro milaj sets up a camera trap near the cabin a photo would offer the long desired proof the pattern of a lynx's fur is as unique as a human fingerprint and a picture wouldn't leave the slightest doubt so it happened the day after day a man and his dog plodded through the snow in the middle of the slovak winter milos checks the camera daily and baits the lynxes with all kinds of delicacies including fresh chicken but they never come anywhere near the trap late one night after milosh has long gone to bed what he has been waiting for so long finally happens the moon and the stars shine brighter than ever before a lynx prowls through the forest he makes his way steeply downhill crosses a small bridge and is back in his old hulk based on the photos we were able to determine conclusively that it was mural there are beautiful pictures that was the great reward for all our efforts at last and proof that nothing was in vain we successfully released the lynxes and made them capable of surviving in the wild the more we know about their behavior and the best methods of breeding and raising them the easier it will be to reintroduce links into protected areas for the time being however one accomplishment is certain thanks to lisa and muro there are now two more wild lynxes in europe's forests you

Channel: The Secrets of Nature

Views: 1,591,066

Rating: 4.8046341 out of 5

Keywords: orf universum, documentary, blue chip, natural history, secrets of nature, link with the lynx, nature, natura, odisea, lynx, wildlife, wilderness, big cats, kittens, raising kittens, naturaleza, animal rescue, slovakia, training cats, national park, eagles

Id: zTRksIjilT8

Length: 51min 13sec (3073 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 24 2014

Reddit Comments

[u/JkWritesaLot]

Oh, I love lynx. (Is that the plural??) I will def watch this.

[u/invisiblette]

I've watched other docs in this "Secrets of Nature" series and really enjoyed them -- and learned a lot!