Iberian Lynx
Lynx pardinus
B. Cranke
Description
The Iberian lynx occurred sympatrically with the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx) in the Pleistocene. Previously the Iberian lynx was considered as conspecific with the Eurasian lynx but today they are defined to be two different species based on genetic and morphological characteristics. The Iberian lynx is considered to be a monotypic species.
The Iberian lynx is about half of the size of the Eurasian lynx. In both ecology and average body weight, the Iberian lynx is very similar to the Canada lynx and bobcat of North America. It has a small head, a short body and long legs. Its tail is short with a black tip and on the ears, it has characteristic black hair tufts. The coat of the Iberian lynx ranges from yellow, grey, red or brown with brown or black spots. Its belly is lightly coloured. In the region of Doñana the coat pattern formed by dark spots and stripes has dominated since the early 1960s, while several types of coat pattern (from small less distinct spots to dark big spots) naturally occur in the Sierra Morena. The Iberian lynx has a conspicuous facial ruff which is more distinct in adults. Males are generally heavier than females.
Weight
8 - 16 kg
Body Length
65 - 92 cm
Tail Length
11 - 16 cm
Longevity
upto 14 years
Litter Size
1 - 4 kittens
P. Meier
Status and Distribution
The Iberian lynx is considered Vulnerable by the IUCN Red List and as Largely Depleted by the IUCN Green Status of Species. Historically the Iberian lynx occurred in all parts of the Iberian Peninsula and was widespread, but by the early 20th century, the Iberian lynx had become very rare. A combination of factors directly and indirectly decreasing rabbit availability (the Iberian lynx is a trophic specialist highly dependent on European Rabbit) acting at a large scale was the main driver of the lasting decline of the Iberian Lynx during the second half of the 20th century. In 1987-1988 there were still estimated to remain 1,136 lynx in Spain. However, in 2002, only two small, isolated populations remained; One in southwestern Spain, in Andújar-Cardeña in the eastern Sierra Morena, and the Doñana-Aljarafe population, in the Doñana Protected Area and the surrounding area. The two remaining populations were estimated to number only 25 (Andújar-Cardeña) and 18 (Doñana) adults. Therefore, the species was assessed as Critically Endangered in the IUCN Red List in 2002 and remained in this category until 2008. In the 1990s, a survey in Portugal suggested an Iberian lynx population of about 40 lynx fragmented in small subpopulations in the Algarve Mountains, Sado Valley, Guadiana, S. Mamede and Malcata. However subsequent local field surveys indicated the absence of resident animals and a search for signs in 2002 did not detect any lynx presence in Portugal.
Since 2002 the Iberian lynx populations have increased thanks to conservation efforts. In 2005 the number of mature individuals had increased to 84. In 2010 reintroduction programmes started which further reduced the probability of extinction of the Iberian lynx. By 2011, 214 lynx (90 adults) were estimated to live in the population of Andújar-Cardeña and 88 animals (32 adults) in the Doñana-Aljarafe population. Together with the lynx from the two reintroduced populations of Guarrizas and Gudalmellato, there were in total 132 adults free ranging in Spain in 2011. In late 2014, the first Iberian lynx were reintroduced in Portugal. Due to the increasing population trend and the higher population size and the larger distribution range, the Iberian lynx was down-listed to Endangered in 2015. Thanks to further lynx conservation management focused on reducing anthropogenic mortality and raising rabbit density within its historic geographic range as well as naturally increasing rabbit populations in many places and reintroductions of lynx during the last two decades, the Iberian lynx population grows now exponentially and expands its geographic range accordingly. In 2022 the number of mature individuals had further increased to 648 and the total population numbered 1,668 lynxes dispersed over five subpopulations. In Spain in 2022, there were 50 mature individuals found in Doñana, 322 in Sierra Morena, 110 in Toledo Mountains and 68 in the subpopulation in Matachel. In Portugal the subpopulation Vale do Guadiana numbered 98 mature individuals in 2022. Population densities ranged from 23.3 to 8.2 individuals per 100 km2. Also the distribution range of the Iberian lynx increased from 449 km2 in 2005 to 3,320 km2 in 2022. Additionally, population models do not predict any population reductions under the current management scheme but rather further population increase. Therefore, the Iberian lynx could again be downlisted on the IUCN Red List but as its population size is still less than 1,000 mature individuals, it is still threatened and was assessed as Vulnerable in 2024.
In 2024, the Iberian lynx was assessed for the Green Status of Species as Largely Depleted, meaning that the Iberian lynx is, with a 20% Species Recovery Score, still far away from being fully recovered. The assessment showed a high Conservation Legacy meaning that past conservation actions have reversed population declines and prevented likely extinction. Also ongoing and planned conservation actions are assessed to further help the recovery of the Iberian lynx and to be needed for its long-term conservation. The stop of all conservation measures would probably lead to the extinction of the species in eastern Spain within the next 10 years. As there is enough suitable habitat remaining, the Iberian lynx could, under an ideal scenario where all conservation efforts work out and no further disease outbreaks in European Rabbits take place, reach Full Recovery within the next 100 years.
The Iberian lynx is endemic to the Iberian Peninsula where it inhabits Spain and Portugal. In 2022 it occurred in five subpopulations and was found in the regions of Andalucía, Castilla-La Mancha and Extremadura in Spain and in Alentejo and Algarve in Portugal.
Ecology and Behaviour
The Iberian lynx is mainly crepuscular and nocturnal but can also be active at daytime. Home ranges vary between 4-30 km². Where rabbits are abundant, home ranges are smaller than in areas where rabbits are scarcer. Ranges of males tend to be larger than those of females and often overlap with ranges of several females. In Doñana, home range size averaged 18 km² for males and 10 km² for females. Female home ranges are exclusive. The daily travel distance of the Iberian lynx is around 7 km, with males usually travelling further than females. The Iberian lynx has dispersal limitations, and it is difficult for them to cross open areas over 5 km wide. The Iberian lynx uses urine and faeces for communication.
The Iberian lynx only breeds in Mediterranean shrubland with sufficiently dense rabbit populations. The mating season takes place between January and July with a peak in January-February. Most births take place in March-April. The gestation lasts for approximately two months. Usually, one to two cubs per female survive until they become independent at 7-10 months. At 8-28 months cubs begin to disperse. The age at first reproduction depends upon demographic and environmental factors but can take place at two years of age for females. The cubs, however, then seem to have lower survival rates. In a high-density population, age at first reproduction depends upon when a female acquires a territory. In the wild, female Iberian lynx usually breed from 3 to 9 years.
L. Begert
Prey
The Iberian lynx is a specialised feeder and takes primarily (80-100%) wild rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) with a dependency similar to the relationship between the Canadian lynx and snowshoe hares. In addition, the Iberian lynx preys on rodents, partridges, juvenile deer and fallow deer, hares, ducks, geese, reptiles, etc. They also feed on fresh carcasses. The Iberian lynx also kills (but does not eat) other carnivores such as feral cats or foxes. In the winter months the proportion of rabbits taken decreases slightly and more ungulates and alternative prey are eaten. In the wetland area of Doñana along the south-western Spanish coast, ducks during their breeding season are a seasonally important food resource for lynx from March to May.
Conservation Efforts and Protection Status
The Iberian lynx is included in Appendix I of CITES and in Appendix II of the Bern Convention and Annexes II and IV of the EU Habitats and Species Directive. It is fully protected in Spain and Portugal.
In the 1960s it was recognized that both abundance and distribution of the Iberian lynx had decreased dramatically since the early 20th century. Various recovery programmes have been in place since 2002 to save the Iberian lynx from extinction. Aims are to preserve 98% of the Iberian lynx's gene pool over the next 100 years. Priorities are to protect suitable habitat for (new) lynx populations, to create connectivity between populations and to increase lynx population size and the number of wild populations by combating threats and reintroductions. Conservation actions taken so far include restocking numbers of rabbits, habitat improvements, construction of artificial breeding dens for lynx, disease management, genetic management to avoid gene loss, translocation and reintroduction of lynx and establishment of traffic calming road signs and fauna underpasses. Additionally, captive breeding programmes have been started in Spain and Portugal. Five breeding centres have been constructed, which are critically important to fully recover the Iberian lynx as they provide a vital gene bank. Since 2009 several Iberian lynx were reintroduced into the two surviving autochthonous populations in Sierra Morena and Doñana and since 2010 also in other areas such as Guarrizas and Gudalmellato. Since the start of the conservation programmes, habitat and rabbit populations were widely restored, the number of wild Iberian lynx populations increased and the overall number of Iberian lynx increased, too. Further subpopulations have been created through reintroductions from 2011-2018 in Spain and other areas have been colonised naturally by the Iberian lynx. In 2014, the first lynx reintroductions in Portugal took place. These successes have only been possible through careful planning and managing of the recovery programme and the integration of various partners such as landowners, national authorities, hunters and environmental agencies. Public awareness and education programmes have helped to change attitudes towards the lynx particularly among private landowners in lynx areas. Education and awareness activities go on and lynx areas are regularly monitored for illegal traps. Generally, monitoring of lynx and its prey plays a key role in its conservation. Habitat management protocols, including guidelines for the recreation of a patchy structure of vegetation and rabbit restocking, are implemented. But also the commitment of landowners and gamekeepers to keep on applying lynx-friendly management procedures is crucial for the mid-term sustainability of habitat quality. Information campaigns have also increased the awareness of local communities about the benefits of lynx occurrence for ecosystems and their own livelihoods. After reintroduction is completed, additional lynx are sometimes restocked to fill gaps in the local distribution. Non-natural mortality is monitored too and measures taken against it. In most localities, any conflict from predation on domestic animals is promptly addressed and compensated. Irrigation ponds and wheels are inventoried in lynx areas, drowning hazards are evaluated while fencing may be reinforced, and escape devices can be installed. Hunting fences area also checked to avoid lynx entanglement. Roadkill prevention measures are taken, too, such as detection of risky situations, implementation of measures to increase the permeability of transport infrastructures, increase mutual detection between lynx and drivers, and to increase safety on high-speed roads or railways. Annual health checks help to prevent disease outbreaks that have proven highly detrimental for lynx conservation in the past. The genetic composition of each subpopulation is also monitored. For creation of new subpopulations, reintroduction sites area thoroughly evaluated regarding their suitability.
Main Threats
The Iberian lynx is a trophic specialist that strictly depends on relatively dense European Rabbit populations for breeding. In the 20th century, the Iberian lynx populations declined due to drastic reductions of its main prey, the rabbit, habitat alterations, over-hunting and diseases. The poxvirus, myxomatosis since the 1950s and Rabbit Haemorrhagi Disease (RHD) since the late 1980s led to the virtual disappearance of rabbits in many areas, highly reducing lynx numbers too. However, habitat destruction, deterioration and alteration due to agricultural and industrial development, conversion of native Mediterranean forest to plantations, and direct persecution also impacted Iberian lynx populations negatively. Many mosaic cultural landscapes have been homogenized. Between 1960 and 1978 the Iberian lynx lost about 80% of its habitat and until the 1950s, the Spanish government paid a bounty for killing lynx.
Nowadays, major threats to the Iberian lynx are still the risk of collapse of European Rabbit populations across large areas e.g. due to outbreaks of disease. Additionally, diseases which affect felids directly could spread too. Pathogen transmission can be increased through frequent contact with domestic carnivores, by wild ungulates or also density-dependent effects as high lynx densities may favour the transmission of new pathogen variants. Although the Iberian lynx has been protected since the 1970s, in some areas lynx are poached or killed in traps set for other predators still today, sometimes due to livestock or poultry predation. Increasing road traffic also affects the lynx populations in some areas leading to road kills as well as creating barriers for dispersal. Such non-natural mortality due to traffic and human persecution together with habitat destruction and fragmentation are also major threats to the Iberian lynx. Other intrinsic factors such as low genetic variability as a consequence of drift after severe population bottlenecks during its evolutionary history, can also have a negative impact on the populations and can lead to a loss of genetic diversity and/or inbreeding through genetic drift. Indications of inbreeding depression have already been reported from the isolated Doñana subpopulation. Emerging threats include the risk of large-scale habitat loss to large wildfires (the risk of wildfires has increased due to human depopulation in rural areas, the parallel growth of secondary forest in abandoned agricultural lands, and the increasing forest dryness due to climate change), the increasing exposure to agrochemicals and other toxic compounds in intensively managed farmland landscapes as well as the risk of lynx drowning in irrigation ponds.
M. Pittet
Habitat
Lynx are restricted to habitats where there is potential for rabbits to thrive, and prefers those with a suitable structure for stalking prey. The species lives for example in Mediterranean forests composed of native oaks and abundant undergrowth and in maquis thickets. It favours a mosaic of dense scrub for shelter and open pasture for hunting. The Iberian lynx is usually absent from cropland and exotic tree plantations (eucalyptus and pine) where rabbits are also scarce. The Iberian lynx however tolerates moderate levels of human activity if other habitat components are favourable, also areas with high levels of human activity are not avoided if they contain suitable habitat but may act as population sinks for the species. Rabbit abundance is the essential component of Iberian lynx habitat. Only where rabbit density is high enough, female lynx breed. Suitable breeding dens and water are also important habitat requirements for the Iberian lynx. Females choose small cavities (rock caves, branch piles, dense bushes, hollow trees, etc.) as breeding dens. The Iberian lynx is usually found between 400-900 m elevation but can occur up to 1,600 m.
M. Pittet