Cranial morphometry of the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx L.) from Croatia.

The last specimens of the autochthonous Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) in Croatia were exterminated in Primorsko-Goranska County around the year 1903. Lynx dispersed back to Croatia after six animals were reintroduced to Slovenia from Slovakia in 1973. Today, lynx is under legislative protection in Croatia and its population is defined as highly endangered. Cranial morphometry was used to analyse a sample of 58 skulls obtained from animals of the reintroduced population in order to identify geographical variation, sexual dimorphism and sex-linked cranial characters. Eighty-five cranial measurements were recorded from each skull. Males were significantly larger than the females in 39 of the 85 cranial measurements, whereas only one measurement, the postorbital constriction, was greater in females. Our research indicates that lynx from Croatia is more similar to lynx from Czech than the ones from Norway. No evidence was found for differences in cranial measurements between the Croatian reintroduced and the Balkan autochthonous lynx population, so there is not a reason to define the later population as a separate subspecies, Lynx lynx martinoi ssp.