Iberian Lynx

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Iberian Lynx

By Sally Maier
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Worlds Most Endangered Cat!
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History

• Common throughout Iberian Peninsula and Southern
  France.
• 100,000 estimated Lynx population at beginning
  of 20th century.
• 1,100 estimated Lynx population in 1988.

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Current Situation

• Lynx population estimate for entire Iberian
  Peninsula is about 100.

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Current Situation

• Only 2 isolated breeding populations left in
  Andalusia.(Southern Spain)
• Donana National
• Park
• Andujar
• (Sierra Morena)

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Lynx Conservation Status

• Critically Endangered (CR)
• CR status means the lynx faces an extremely high
  risk of extinction in the wild.

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Factors Contributing to Decline

• Limited prey
• Declining rabbit populations
• Human-caused mortality
• Illegal killing
• Vehicular collisions
• Habitat conversion
• Fragmentation and isolation of lynx populations.
  

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Limited Prey

• Rabbits make up 90 of the Lynxs diet
• Over the past few decades, 2 major diseases have
  substantially altered rabbit populations.
• Surviving rabbits inhabit isolated patches in
  high densities.

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Human-caused morality

• Hunting
• For meat, a trophy pelt, or livestock protection.
  
• Traps and Snares
• Intended for
• other animals.

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Human-caused mortality

• Vehicle collisions
• Chief culprit in Lynx deaths
• At least 9 Lynxes have been killed by vehicles in
  the last year and a half.
• HIGH considering the small population! (about
  100)

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Habitat Conversion

• Preferred Lynx habitat is scrubland with
  scattered open areas.

Andujar, Sierra Moreno
Donana National Park
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Habitat Conversion

• Increased development in Lynx scrubland
• Roads
• Dams
• Urbanization
• Changes in agriculture/forestry
• Expansion
• More monocultures (limited vegetation bad for
  rabbits, and therefore, lynxes.)

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Result of Habitat Conversion

• Suitable Lynx habitats become smaller and more
  isolated
• This means more fragmented and isolated Lynx
  populations
• Isolation makes the lynx very vulnerable in
  terms of genetic viability, disease and
  catastrophic events such as road mortality (WWF,
  2006)
• Between 1960 and 1990, the Iberian Lynx lost 80
  of its range!

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Lynx Recovery Strategies

• These 2 last Lynx habitats must be preserved.
• Corridors between adjacent populations must be
  reconnected
• Rabbit populations must be recovered.

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Lynx Recovery Strategies

• A more effective captive breeding program
• At least 12 breeding lynx needed

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Long term goals

• After these immediate need strategies are
  underway, focus can broaden to other Lynx
  conservation issues
• Habitat restoration
• More sustainable farming
• Lynx-friendly development (as much as possible.)
• Redistribution of funds from infrastructure
  projects to finance lynx-compatible farming.

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Save the Iberian Lynx?

• If the Iberian Lynx becomes extinct, it will be
  the first cat to die off since the sabre- toothed
  tiger some 2-10,000 years ago.
• But modern society, with our knowledge and
  ingenuity would not let that happenor would we?