Material & Methods

To be able to accurately measure and compare Lynx behaviors, three different Swedish zoos were chosen to participate in the study. They were Borås zoo, Nordens Ark and Kolmården. Together they provided a total of 8 Lynx. As a first step it was crucial to learn to tell each of them apart to best be able to measure their individual personalities. Each of them is presented in the table below.

LynxSexZooAge
(in years)
Individual pictures
JokerMaleBorås10
QuatitziFemaleBorås10
SynoluxMaleNordens Ark15
DicksiFemaleNordens Ark15
LotusMale (cub)Nordens Ark2-4 monthsPhoto by Lina Alström
LoveMaleKolmården5
LovikaFemaleKolmården12
LomeoMale (cub)Kolmården3-6 months

Ethogram

To be able to compare my results to other studies in the future, a pre-existing ethogram developed specifically for felines was used, (Stanton et. al., 2015). From there, 37 behaviors were chosen which I wanted to pay special attention to. These were behaviors which were relevant to be able to measure the visitors effect and what I could observe giving the season, individuals present and my viewing distance. 

Statistical analysis

After compiling all the data, the proportion of time spent on each behavior was calculated in percent %. The proportion of time was relative to the total time of observations. If a lynx was observed for 1 hour and it paced for 30 minutes, that would be counted as 50% pacing. The 37 original behaviors were then combined into six larger groups for easier analysis. 

Statistical tests were used to see if the frequency of behavior for these six major groups differed significantly between high season and low season, mornings and afternoons, males and females and between the three zoos.

Since there are few test subjects and the data is not normally distributed, non-parametric tests were the most suitable. Related-samples Wilcoxon signed-rank tests and Kruskal-Wallis tests were chosen and the tests were performed using the statistical software program SPSS, version 29.0.2.0.

Follow the button below to see the results!