Iberian Lynx
The Iberian lynx is smaller than the European lynx, but otherwise similar. Although previously widespread in Spain and Portugal, it is now a rare species. By the 1980s there were probably fewer than 1,200 lynxes alive. By 1999 the population had halved, and the distribution of the lynx had contracted by more than 80 percent in fewer than 30 years. Today there are probably fewer than 600 lynxes left. The main population of about 400 animals lives in the mountains of central southern Spain. The rest are widely scattered, and all these subpopulations have a total of fewer than 100 animals. The Iberian lynxes live in open woodland with scattered pines and evergreen oaks.
They also favor thick scrub, patches of open grassland, and dense thickets of dry scrub on the mountains. Rabbits comprise 80 percent of their diet, a degree of specialization that is dangerous in a changing world. To rely too much on one source of food makes any animal vulnerable if something goes wrong with the supply. In the 1950s the viral disease myxomatosis swept through the rabbit populations of Europe, killing over 90 percent of them in some places. As the years went by, the rabbit population became more resistant to this fatal disease, and numbers began to recover. However, in the late 1980s a new disaster struck in the form of rabbit hemorrhagic disease, which also killed large numbers of rabbits, again leaving few to support the lynx population.
Habitat Loss
The rapid economic development of Spain and Portugal over recent decades has been a significant threat to the lynx. Remote parts of the countryside have been opened up by the construction of new roads. Hotels and vacation homes have been built to accommodate the booming tourist industry and provide facilities for retirement communities. Overstocking of cattle and game ranches and the erection of deer fencing have also had a detrimental effect on the habitat for many forms of wildlife, including the lynx. The natural mosaic of habitats that suits lynxes and their prey has been broken up, and the lynx population has been reduced and critically fragmented into nine separate subpopulations, with a total of at least 48 separate breeding groups. Increased use of roads has meant more deaths, particularly in the Coto Donana area, and some populations of lynx already have fewer than 10 females, so even a few road kills per year could be disastrous.
Persecution
Although lynxes have been legally protected in Spain since 1973 and Portugal since 1974, many are still shot. Most live on private estates and cattle ranches, where hunting and shooting are common. Only 40 to 50 lynxes live in the protected area of the Coto Donana National Park; very few enjoy the protection of nature reserves. Lynxes have now been infected with tuberculosis (TB) from wild pigs and deer.
Action Plan
An action plan for the lynx now exists: The European Habitats Directive has given the species more protection, and there should be money available fron the European Union to manage the countryside in a manner more suited to wildlife conservation. HowevE it may all have come too late to save the Iberian lynx
Status
- Iberian lynx (pardel lynx)
- Lynx pardinus
- Family: Felidae
- World population: 500-600
- Distribution: Parts of Spain and Portugal
- Habitat: Open pine woodland and among dense, dry thickets of scrub on the mountains
- Size: Length head/body: 31.5 in-38 in (80-96 cm); tail: 3.5-4.5 in (9-11 cm); height at shoulder: 24-27 in (60-68 cm). Weight: 22-33 lb (10-15 kg)
- Form: A large, long-legged cat, with a short black-tipped tail and tufted ears. Coat pale brown with white spots
- Diet: Mainly rabbits, but also young deer, rodents, and ground-dwelling birds
- Breeding: Breeding season January-March, births in May. Litters of 2-3 kittens born; 1 litter per year. Life span unknown, but other lynx species live up to 15 years
- Related endangered species: Cheetah (Acinonyxjubatus); tiger (Panthera tigris); snow leopard (Uncia uncia); several other big and small cats
