Iberian Lynx

“The Iberian Lynx is ready to reclaim its territories.”

The Iberian Lynx is the most endangered feline on this planet. Its most distinctive features are the tufts on the tips of its ears, beard, and short tail with a black apical spot. Its small size and spotted coat allow it to camouflage itself in its habitat (Mediterranean forest) while searching for its main prey, the European rabbit. The lynx’s territorial area can vary between 300 and 2000 hectares, depending on the rabbit population density. One rabbit per day is enough to sustain the lynx, but wildcats, foxes, or genets will compete with the lynx for prey and territory.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the Iberian Lynx occupied territories throughout the Iberian Peninsula. However, by the end of the 20th century, the inhabited area was drastically reduced to two zones in Andalusia: Doñana and Sierra Morena. Its survival is highly threatened, and it is considered to be “critically endangered.” The main causes are habitat alteration and fragmentation (abandonment of traditional farming and livestock practices, intensive agriculture, monoculture reforestation, excessive livestock grazing, and construction of infrastructure such as highways), a decrease in the rabbit population (due to diseases like myxomatosis and hemorrhagic fever), non-natural causes of death (roadkill, poaching), and genetic weakness (isolation between populations leading to genetic impoverishment and vulnerability to diseases).

The LIFE IBERLINCE project aims to initiate the recovery of the historical distribution of the Iberian Lynx in Spain and Portugal, establishing stable and self-sustaining populations to ensure the species’ future. The project’s actions include identifying reintroduction areas in Portugal and Spain, consolidating current populations, creating ecological corridors for lynx movement and foraging, reducing the impact of roadkill and poaching mortality, involving the private sector and hunting associations, and achieving maximum social support and participation from residents in the reintroduction areas. The support of local communities is crucial for the project’s success!

Protecting the lynx is not just about saving a species from extinction for future generations, but also about conserving an ecosystem—the “montado”—and generating positive economic impacts for local businesses, such as creating new jobs and increasing territorial surveillance and tourism. The international recognition of the tourism potential in areas with lynx will allow visitors to experience well-preserved natural systems that capitalize on the landscape, natural, and cultural values of the territory, as is the case with the Noudar Nature Park.

In 2013, there were 300 lynxes, and in 2014, a pair of lynxes were released in Mértola. By achieving these goals, the aim is to reach a population of 450 lynxes in at least six population nuclei on the Iberian Peninsula by 2016. This new situation will change their threat category from “Critically Endangered” to “Endangered.”