Lynxes were quite common all over Europe. The shy Lynx needs big undissected forest areas, where the loners hunt medium-sized mammals like rabbits or roe deer. In Central Europe the Lynx population had declined almost to extinction because of chase and segmentation of wooded areas, until in the last decades and immigration and projects for reintroduction stabilized small populations. Today Lynxes can be found in big wooded areas along the Central Green Belt from the Harz Mountains and Sumava via the Alps to the Trnovo Forest in the foothills of the Dinaric mountains.
In the Green Belt of South Eastern Europe the Balkan Lynx needs protection.
Images: M Steinig, Robert Hofrichter, Josef Limberger