This scientific monograph gives a detailed information about reproduction biology in the grey wolf Canis lupus in Belarus. This topic includes the wolf breeding (mating and denning) behavior, fertility of the species and mortality of its pups. The initial material was not collected occasionally from wolf hunters and wolf pup searchers, but mainly gained by authors first-hand according to a well-set research design and long-term. By analyzing the gathered data, we became convinced that in the wolf reproduction biology there are more exceptions than rules. Therefore, the standard patterns of reproduction biology in wolves that are wide-spread in the published literature about the species we call as common beliefs that are given versus the wolf reality that we have found in Belarus. Concerning the non-standard features in the wolf reproduction biology, we revealed that multiple breeding in wolf pack is a common phenomenon, breeding of yearling females and wolf-dog hybridization were found to be irrespective the food base and strongly depending on the species population density i.e. they are reproduction regulations. Wolf pup mortality was investigated and the crucial role of deliberate predation of lynxes on wolf pups was revealed.

This scientific book gives the results of the long-term studies on the Eurasian lynx Lynx lynx in Belarus, mainly in Naliboki Forest and Paazierre Forest. Population structure, breeding, diet and prey supply as well as the variety of behavioural traits were considered. Among behavioural questions there were investigated sociality, hunting modes, mating and denning behaviour, territorial marking, sheltering and interspecific interference. The monograph presents not only the regional aspects of lynx biology, but also includes many new findings for the Eurasian lynx overall.

FINALIST IN THE PEOPLE'S BOOK PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION 2022/2023 – WRITTEN BY THE WAINWRIGHT-CONSERVATION-PRIZE-WINNING AUTHOR OF REBIRDING. Transform your understanding of the natural world forever and discover the wild forces that once supported Britain's extraordinary natural riches, and could again. Our precious archipelago is ravaged by climate change, bereft of natural ecosystems and lies at the mercy of global warming, flooding, drought and catastrophic biodiversity loss. But could restoring species that once helped protect our islands help turn this crisis around? From familiar yet imperilled honeybees and ancient oak woods to returning natives like beavers and boars, Britain's cornerstone species may hold the key to recovering our biodiversity on land and in our seas. In Cornerstones, we discover how beavers craft wetlands, save fish, encourage otters, and prevent rivers from flooding. We learn how 'disruptive' boars are seasoned butterfly conservationists, why whales are crucial for restoring seabird cities and how wolves and lynx could save our trees, help sequester carbon and protect our most threatened birds. Benedict Macdonald transforms our understanding of the natural world forever, revealing lives that once supported extraordinary natural riches and explaining how humans – the most important cornerstone species of all – can become the greatest stewards of the natural world.

This monograph is about predation in vertebrate animal community. The studies were done in the seminatural terrains with transitional mixed forest within the European forest zone in Belarus. The result part was organised as a top-down flow: First, the community characteristics related to predators were estimated. I presented data on predator species richness, population density and biomass with special attention paid to the changes in predator species diversity occurred during the last two centuries and particularly in connection with the American mink and raccoon dog naturalization. Then, the main features of predator food niches were given, and the structure of various predator guilds and size structure in predators were analysed. The next part of the monograph was devoted to examining of community-important factors acting in semi-natural terrains. Such factors affected either the whole community or its marked fragment. The last quite a large part of the monograph consisted of many chapters which present more or less essential results on different predator species, and stresses hot questions of their population ecology.

Predation, one of the most dramatic interactions in animals' lives, has long fascinated ecologists. This volume presents carnivores, raptors and their prey in the complicated net of interrelationships, and shows them against the background of their biotic and abiotic settings. It is based on long-term research conducted in the best preserved woodland of Europe's temperate zone. The role of predation, whether limiting or regulating prey (ungulate, rodent, shrew, bird, and amphibian) populations, is quantified and compared to parts played by other factors: climate, food resources for prey, and availability of other potential resources for predators.

This text focuses on the principles and methods of using growth layers formed in teeth and bones of mammals to make a judgement on essential traits of the animal's life history. In nearly all mammalian species, including man, the age of individuals can be determined from the number of growth layers and, at least in some of them, it is possible to estimate the season of an animal's birth and death, age of sexual maturation, periodicity of reproduction, certain feeding habits and other aspects of the individual's biology. It is also possible, from tooth-enamel analysis, to assess doses of radiation accumulated by animals and human beings during their lifetime.;This book is intended for zoologists, wild-game biologists and zoo archaeologists, but some of the sections could also be of interest for anthropologists, radioecologists and conservation biologists.

For more than nine years the wolves in Alaska's Denali National Park were the subject of intense research by a group of renowned scientists led by L. David Mech. The result of their work is the most comprehensive study of a population of wolves and their prey ever available. This accessible, fascinating, and extensively illustrated book will appeal to researchers, general readers, and wolf enthusiasts across the world.

Wolves are some of the world's most charismatic and controversial animals, capturing the imaginations of their friends and foes alike. Highly intelligent and adaptable, they hunt and play together in close-knit packs, sometimes roaming over hundreds of square miles in search of food. Once teetering on the brink of extinction across much of the United States and Europe, wolves have made a tremendous comeback in recent years, thanks to legal protection, changing human attitudes, and efforts to reintroduce them to suitable habitats in North America. As wolf populations have rebounded, scientific studies of them have also flourished. But there hasn't been a systematic, comprehensive overview of wolf biology since 1970. In Wolves, many of the world's leading wolf experts provide state-of-the-art coverage of just about everything you could want to know about these fascinating creatures. Individual chapters cover wolf social ecology, behavior, communication, feeding habits and hunting techniques, population dynamics, physiology and pathology, molecular genetics, evolution and taxonomy, interactions with nonhuman animals such as bears and coyotes, reintroduction, interactions with humans, and conservation and recovery efforts. The book discusses both gray and red wolves in detail and includes information about wolves around the world, from the United States and Canada to Italy, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Israel, India, and Mongolia. Wolves is also extensively illustrated with black and white photos, line drawings, maps, and fifty color plates. Unrivalled in scope and comprehensiveness, Wolves will become the definitive resource on these extraordinary animals for scientists and amateurs alike. “An excellent compilation of current knowledge, with contributions from all the main players in wolf research. . . . It is designed for a wide readership, and certainly the language and style will appeal to both scientists and lucophiles alike. . . . This is an excellent summary of current knowledge and will remain the standard reference work for a long time to come.”—Stephen Harris, New Scientist “This is the place to find almost any fact you want about wolves.”—Stephen Mills, BBC Wildlife Magazine

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