DIET PATTERNS OF EURASIAN LYNX LYNX LYNX - WHAT CAUSES SEXUALLY DETERMINED PREY SIZE SEGREGATION

The influence of sex, body weight, physical condition, age and season on diet choice was investigated by hunting reports and intestinal anal yses of 441 lynx Lynx lynx (Linnaeus, 1758) from Norway killed during 1960-1996. Of self-provisioning (greater than or equal to 1 yr) lynx ( n = 280), males preyed proportionately more upon cervids (primarily ro e deer Capreolus capreolus and semi-domestic reindeer Rangifer tarandu s) compared to small game (mountain hare Lepus timidus and tetraonids) than females did. Only 5.4% of the variation in prey preference towar ds small game and cervids (p = 0.0002) could be explained by sex. In a logistic regression model, no additive effect of weight or any other parameters was found after sex had been included. We did not find suff icient evidence for body weight (sensu stricto) being related to prey choice, but propose that sexually determined prey segregation in lynx is caused by different ranging behaviour resulting in different encoun ter rates with different kinds of prey.