Michael Marshall, environment reporter
(Image: Peter Segerström/with permission from Elsevier)
These male lynxes were fighting for control of the lands behind them, and the females that live in it. In this case both survived, but they were lucky. In the previous two battles for this territory, the incumbent male was killed.
Between 2002 and 2011, this territory changed paws three times. The first male was killed in 2002, and his killer took over the area. He was in turn killed and supplanted in 2005.
His usurper, who had the code-name L-03134, held the territory until 2008 when he was driven out. L-03134 is on the left in the photo, losing to the male who went on to take his territory. The new male has since held off a challenger who tried to claim the territory in 2011.
Long-lived animals rarely fight to the death, because it often makes more sense for the weaker animal to give up the fight and try somewhere else. But in northern Sweden, male Eurasian lynxes face intense struggles for territory. They often hold their territories for years, partly because they are rarely hunted by humans, so challengers are forced to fight particularly hard if they are to have any hope of mating.
Journal reference: Mammalian Biology - Zeitschrift für Säugetierkunde, DOI: 10.1016/j.mambio.2012.11.006
Male lynxes duel to the death
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Male lynxes duel to the death
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Male lynxes duel to the death
