We monitored seven resident (three males and four females) and six dispersing subadult Eurasian lynx from to in a population that was re‐introduced to the Swiss Jura Mountains in the early 1970s. Home‐range areas of the neighbouring adults were 71–281 km2, and significant core areas 34–252 km2. Males occupied significantly larger areas than females. Home‐range overlap was 9% for neighbouring males and 3%) for females. Core areas of males did touch, but those of females were clearly separated. Each male's home range covered those of one or two females. Population density was 0.94 lynx/100 km2 for resident animals. Pre‐dispersal mortality was estimated to be 50%. Juveniles dispersed from their mothers' home area at the age of 10 months. Of six monitored subadults. only one survived the first year of independence. Human‐caused mortality (traffic accidents. illegal killing) was high. This was also the case among resident adults. This might be a threat to the long‐term survival of the reintroduced population.

The occurrence of wildcats in the southern Swiss Jura M ountains. Acta Theriologica 41: 2 0 5 -2 0 9 .Fourteen wildcats Felis silvestris silvestris Schreber, 1777 were trapped in winter 1993 in the southern part of the Swiss Jura M ountains as a bycatch. During the last thirty years of protection the presence of wildcats in Switzerland could be confirmed by a few dead-found individuals, but the status of the species was unknown. This is the first indication of an existing population. Even though the upper distribution limit of wildcats in central and western Europe is described at 800 m a.s.l., most individuals were caught in altitudes from 970 to 1200 m. W e registered a higher catching success in south exposed beech forest and in the sycamore forest, than in the northern exposed Norw ay spruce forest. During snowcover above 30 cm no wildcats were caught. The capture sites were located within distances of 2 0 0 -1 9 0 0 m from human settlements.