Highland lynx cubs make their debut
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
A TRIO of northern lynx cubs are venturing out of their den for the first time at a Highland wildlife park.
At almost three months old, the feline triplets spent their first few weeks huddled together in the warmth of various dens with their mother at the RZSS’s Highland Wildlife Park near Kingussie.
Now, however, they are bravely venturing out to explore their whole enclosure.
Born to female Dimma and male Switch on May 25, this is the fourth consecutive year the couple has had cubs.
Una Richardson, Head Keeper for Carnivores at RZSS Highland Wildlife Park, said: "Watching the cubs play-fighting with each other, running and tumbling about the enclosure, it’s easy to see why they are quickly becoming favourites with both staff and visitors over the past few weeks.
"They have been putting on quite a show, especially at feeding time when they routinely play stalk and pounce on sections of meat as big as themselves.
"The couple arrived at the Park in 2012 and this is the fourth year in a row they have produced cubs - a real testament to the quality of the animal husbandry and the enclosure here.
"Dimma gave birth to her previous litters in the bushes at the front of the enclosure, which required us to rope off the adjacent visitor path, but this year she has opted for the privacy and security of the nest boxes provided in the lynx house."
RZSS Highland Wildlife Park’s lynx are part of the European Zoo Association’s co-ordinated breeding programme.
Although overall the species is not endangered, it had become locally extinct in many areas across Europe, resulting in some sub-populations being considered as endangered or even critically endangered.
The lynx occurred in the UK until possibly as late as the Middle Ages. Loss of habitat, reduced prey availability and illegal hunting are the biggest threats to wild lynx populations.
There have been a number of successful lynx reintroduction projects within Europe, including in Switzerland and France.
Earlier this summer a group called Rewilding Britain was launched with the aim of reintroducing native species such as wolves and lynx into the countryside.
However Scottish farmers and crofters have voiced concerns that livestock could be threatened by the move.
