In many unreliable articles, you can occasionally see plots like "The lynx avoids being hunted by wolves by pretending to be dead", which is a serious slander for the lynx.

In fact, according to the research of zoologists of the Belarusian Academy of Sciences, in the relationship between the wolf and the lynx, the lynx is not only not the weak party but is very strong.

Eurasian Lynx and European Timberwolves live together in the Nalipoki Forest in central and western Belarus. Zoologists have conducted long-term ecological research here, and they have also revealed the relationship between lynx and gray wolves.

In the past, we generally believed that in cats, except for lions that live in groups, which have strong social attributes, the other cats that live alone are very lonely and have weak social attributes.

Even paired females and males only live together briefly during estrus. Once the female beast is found to be pregnant, the male beast will leave. However, with the deepening of research, people's understanding of cats has become more comprehensive, and it is surprising to find that it is not the same. In fact, solitary animals are not as lonely as we think. Take the Eurasian lynx, for example, they are very social.

Zoologists have studied video, activity traces, hair, and many other materials and found that male lynxes often lived with female lynxes long before estrus. Later, during the parenting period, the male lynx will often feed the lynx mother and child and assume the heavy responsibility of defending them.

For example, from November 2016 to April 2017, people often photographed two paired lynxes often moving together, but the estrus period of the lynx is usually between February and April. In 2021, zoologists used 60 infrared cameras to capture a large number of moving pictures during the lynx's parenting period.

The study found that the mother lynx spends most of the time with the cubs, and only 6% of the time is out foraging.

There's no guarantee of prey, but it's not a concern, as the male lynx roams around their mother and child and feeds them. In mid-January, the male lynx was repeatedly observed killing some animals and placing them not far from the female lynx's nest.

Over the next 7-10 days, the female lynx was also observed to come to feed several times. The male lynx is not only a "good husband", but also a responsible "good father".

It takes on the responsibility of protecting its cubs and actively removes threatened animals from its habitat, including gray wolves. Due to the protection of the lynx father, the survival rate of lynx cubs can reach more than 80%.

The lynx lurks in the path of lone wolves foraging and then ambushes them. In April 2017, researchers photographed an adult male gray wolf, which was ambushed by an adult male lynx. The two sides fought, and the gray wolf died of his injuries. Although lynxes will kill lone wolves, for them, they prefer to find the den of gray wolves, and then kill the heavily pregnant female wolf or the cubs in it. Because the European Timberwolves' parenting model is full of loopholes, it is easy for the lynx to take advantage of it.

It is extremely irresponsible for the wolf parents to go out for food and leave the wolf cubs who are unable to fight back alone in the cave, and this directly allows the lynx to start its "hunting moment".

In February 2021, the researchers recorded 6 wolf dens with a total of 35-40 cubs in an area of more than 1,000 square kilometers. But by the beginning of 2022, it was found that there was only one cub left, and most of the others were killed by lynx. Affected by lynx hunting, wolf pups have a very high mortality rate.

Since 1999, zoologists have carried out comprehensive monitoring of gray wolves in the Nalipoji Forest and found that where lynx haunts, the mortality rate of wolf pups is 40%-60%.

In larger areas, the mortality rate of wolf pups is even as high as 90%. Interspecific competition is a common phenomenon in nature. Wolves and lynxes have similar food habits, so competition is naturally fierce. The purpose of the lynx is clear, to kill these potential future adversaries.