Europe’s Big Five selected! 10 February 2014 | News story The Brown Bear, Wolf, Wolverine, Lynx and Wisent are the most impressive animals of Europe, according to the Flemish TV show “The Big5 of Europe”. The final selection was revealed and presented to the president of the European Council, Herman Van Rompuy, during the last episode on 8 February. Throughout five episodes, Chris Dusauchoit and biologists Iwan Lewylle and Frederik Thoelen, travelled across the wildest parts of the continent on the ambitious mission of selecting Europe's most fascinating and impressive animals. The final choice was made starting from a long list of 15 candidates and by ranking the animals according to four criteria: appearance, behaviour, rareness and the emotions they trigger. The Wolf, the Eurasian Lynx, the Iberian Lynx, the Brown Bear and the Wolverine also represent the large carnivores that still exist in Europe.
Read here for more information about the project. Conserving Europe’s carnivores. 13 December 2013 | Project description Large carnivores have had a complicated relationship with humans. For much of history they have been persecuted as competitors, and out of fear and ignorance. Yet favourable legislation in the European Union has recently allowed these species to re-establish in many parts of the continent.
This recovery has created a range of challenges for many people with whom they share the landscape. The Wolf (Canis lupus), the Eurasian Lynx (Lynx lynx), the Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus), the Brown Bear (Ursus arctos) and the Wolverine (Gulo gulo) are the large carnivores that still exist in Europe. Because of their predatory habits large carnivores need very large areas (individuals ranging over areas as large as 100-2,000 km²) and their conservation needs to be planned on very wide spatial scales which span many intra- and international administrative and jurisdictional borders.
Did you know? LISTE ROUGE des espèces menacées (UICN) IUCN / SSC Cat Specialist Group. UICN - Cat News.