Comparison of the effectivity of different snare types for collecting and retaining hair from Eurasian Lynx (Lynx lynx)

Genetic methods are increasingly being used as noninvasive tools to survey populations of wild animals. One challenge of these methods is the sampling of genetic material from the target species. Genetic material of various predators, such as bears, canids, and felids, has been successfully obtained from both hair trapped in snares and scat. However, there is currently no standard procedure for sampling genetic material from the Eurasian Lynx (Lynx lynx). We tested established and newly developed hair snares in two near-natural lynx enclosures in the Bavarian Forest National Park. All snares consisted of a wooden post; they differed in the type of material attached to the post for snaring hair: carpet (velour with 40 nails), wildcat (spruce wood with 2-3 mm deep, horizontal and diagonal ridges), wire brush, doormat, or rubber bands (250 g of rubber bands wrapped around the post). We determined the acceptance of the hair snares by the animals by observing their behavior with the aid of video cameras. The number of rubbing events on the different trap types did not significantly differ, but the rubbing duration was longer for the doormat hair snare. The wire brush hair snare collected the highest total amount of hair and - beside the carpet - the highest amount of hair per unit of time. Almost all hair trapped on the wire brush snare were retained during a 2-week exposure to the elements outside of the enclosures. The results of our study may hold for other felid species with hair characteristics similar to those of lynx.