a few critters

[loftar]

Lynxes eat deer, and they can easily kill a grown man.

Really? That's the image I and Jorb, too, had of them and the image we wanted (and, well, still intend) to portray, but when we tried reading up on them, they seemed to be almost in the class of foxes when it comes to timidness and harmlessness. If you can prove our superficial Googling wrong, I'd love it. :)

[theTrav]

Rino's also

check out his big beefy horn!

[Potjeh]

Wikipedia article on Eurasian lynx says:

Lynxes prey on hares, rabbits, rodents, grouse, wild boar, chamois, foxes, roe deer and reindeer.

Anything that hunts boars is a bad mofo, because boars are quite dangerous. According to hunters' lore over here, even bears keep a respectful distance from them. Yeah, they shy away from humans, but I certainly wouldn't want to corner one.

Oh, and there's some indication that cave lions lived in the Balkans around 0AD. Maybe you could squeeze them in as super-rare animals (think semi-mythical, like the proposed trolls and dragons)?

[Agarrett]

Wikipedia article on Eurasian lynx says:

Lynxes prey on hares, rabbits, rodents, grouse, wild boar, chamois, foxes, roe deer and reindeer.

Anything that hunts boars is a bad mofo, because boars are quite dangerous. According to hunters' lore over here, even bears keep a respectful distance from them. Yeah, they shy away from humans, but I certainly wouldn't want to corner one.

Oh, and there's some indication that cave lions lived in the Balkans around 0AD. Maybe you could squeeze them in as super-rare animals (think semi-mythical, like the proposed trolls and dragons)?

[sabinati]

thought of another thing - falcons. domesticate them for a small game hunting helper.

[Onionfighter]

Crows: domesticate them and they will pick up any shiny stuff they find.

[Cookie]

Wikipedia article on Eurasian lynx says:

Lynxes prey on hares, rabbits, rodents, grouse, wild boar, chamois, foxes, roe deer and reindeer.

Anything that hunts boars is a bad mofo, because boars are quite dangerous. According to hunters' lore over here, even bears keep a respectful distance from them. Yeah, they shy away from humans, but I certainly wouldn't want to corner one.

Oh, and there's some indication that cave lions lived in the Balkans around 0AD. Maybe you could squeeze them in as super-rare animals (think semi-mythical, like the proposed trolls and dragons)?

Very different from the local lynxes where I am. They do prey on your house cats and moles and things but the idea of a lynx going up against a bear? It would be kinda like me going up against Wolverine. He might miss with his first swipe but only because I would be buckling at the knees and so unintentionally manage to duck. Our lynxes are much more timid than the foxes. The darn foxes get so tame that on more than one occassion when driving on the island we've had to slow down to a crawl because of the foxes ambling slowly along in the middle of the road. If you get out of the car to try to shoo them away they dance backwards nervously. Our foxes are about knee high on me. I've never heard of anyone finding them any more dangerous than a speed bump.

[Potjeh]

Our lynxes are as big as wolves. And while a bear can certainly kill a lynx, it would get some nasty wounds in the process (lynx claws are great at tearing off faces) and possibly die of infection later on.

[Seizure]

Very different from the local lynxes where I am. They do prey on your house cats and moles and things but the idea of a lynx going up against a bear? It would be kinda like me going up against Wolverine. He might miss with his first swipe but only because I would be buckling at the knees and so unintentionally manage to duck. Our lynxes are much more timid than the foxes. The darn foxes get so tame that on more than one occassion when driving on the island we've had to slow down to a crawl because of the foxes ambling slowly along in the middle of the road. If you get out of the car to try to shoo them away they dance backwards nervously. Our foxes are about knee high on me. I've never heard of anyone finding them any more dangerous than a speed bump.

Yeah, well... Your animals have obviously gotten used to human presence, and tamed to a point because people think they are cute and feed them.

They arn't the same ones that were around back in the time the game is supposed to be set in. Nor are they the ones that live in the wild.

[niltrias]

Wow, those lynxes are a lot bigger than the ones in N America. But still, 66lbs max? It has got to be preying on baby/old/sick/injured deer and boar.

Also, about the foxes...island tameness is a phenomenon that has been noted quite often on islands where humans/other predators do not live.