A species is classified as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) when the number of adult individuals in its population is between 250 and 2,500 specimens. Another requirement is that the total population of this animal has decreased between 70% and 80% in recent years. Thanks to the work of projects fighting for the conservation of this species, where the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) meets both requirements and has therefore been protected since the 1990s, there are now more than 1,365 record-breaking registered specimens on the Peninsula.
This species began to be listed as a “critically endangered species” in 1986. At that time, the lynx population had been reduced to 100 individuals scattered across two isolated cores in the Sierra Morena and Doñana. “A major wildfire could have caused the extinction of the species,” says Ramón Pérez de Ayala, head of WWF Spain Species Program Projects.
Success of EU Life projects
Habitat destruction, road killing, poaching, and declining wild rabbit populations were the main threats leading to the decline of this species. This situation triggered all the alarms and led to the first rescue project started in 2002 to prevent this species from extinction.
The first Life project, “Recovering Iberian lynx populations in Andalusia”, was a milestone in the conservation of this species and the first step towards achieving the “safe-free” categorization. The main purpose of this program, which has a budget of more than 9 million euros, of which the European Union contributed 42%, was to “connect the populations that already exist in Andalusia” and “to ensure the exchange of individuals among the populations”. , explains Pérez de Ayala. Thanks to these first steps, both genetic diversity will increase and the problem of inbreeding, which can cause physical defects in animals, will be eliminated.
The first positive results of this four-year program were an increase of 49% in Iberian lynx and the distribution of this species increased to 73%. Therefore, other different areas emerged that were suitable for the propagation of the species and met the ideal conditions.
Pérez de Ayala says organizations like WWF-Spain are involved in the development of these programs, which are currently working on the Life Lynx Connect project and are “the largest available.” It is the fourth LIFE project approved by the European Commission for the conservation of this species and will run for five years from 2020 to 2025.
They explain on their website that the main goal is to “increase both the overall size of the population and the connectivity between cores of the Iberian lynx to provide a self-sensing and viable functional metapopulation.”
“We have a core job that we started, and which is very important, monitoring the population of this species,” the WWF explains. The procedure for assessing the number of individuals is “photo capture”, which works through various cameras spread over areas of habitat captured as these animals pass. Also, each is identified because of patches on their skin, which are genetic fingerprints. In this way, “to prevent or at least prevent the causes of death; possible dispersal movements and observe which individuals settle,” adds the expert.
Due to the fieldwork of such a program, the core of this species has increased from two in Andalusia to fifteen, with fourteen in Spain and one in Portugal.
continuous increases
The latest data officially collected by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge (Miteco) shows that these projects are paying off, as record numbers were reached in 2021 with a total of 1,365 specimens including adults, sub-adults and puppies. “We spent two or three years growing 30% of the population,” WWF explains.
Of the total number of samples, 1,156 are in Spain and 209 in Portugal. The community with the highest number is Andalusia with 519, followed by Castilla-La Mancha with 473 and Extremadura with 164. However, Castilla was the autonomous community that gave birth to the most offspring last season. -A total of 208 calves were born in La Mancha and there are 88 breeding females. In the rest of the communities, 174 puppies were born in Andalusia and 48 in Extremadura.
The growth of the lynx has shown an increasing trend in recent years due to the emergence of new population areas. Experts point out that “the job is done very well” in these recent populations, introduced from 2014, as they learned from mistakes made in previous introductions, where they had less knowledge. Therefore, since then the growth has been much faster than in previous studies, stabilizing until they reached a point where they “reached their maximum carrying capacity and no more individuals entered”. Due to this situation, two new cores have formed, in the Sierra Arana in Granada and the Altos de Lorca in Murcia, and their population areas are expected to increase in the coming years.
Ongoing threats
When establishing an Iberian lynx population in a particular area, several factors must be considered that may pose a threat to the continued growth of this species. Since the main food of this species is rabbits, the most important factor is the number of rabbits in a place. “It’s not the cause of death, but its scarcity makes recovery difficult,” explains the expert.
But “in areas where there is good habitat for the lynx but not many rabbits, we have a very significant problem there.” In order for this species to settle in a place and breed and reproduce from there, the rabbit population must be at a minimum level. “A lynx starts breeding from one rabbit per hectare. From two, they can already have two or three puppies. And from four, they already have very large offspring, plus in these populations it is very difficult for the rabbit to disappear even if it does get the disease,” he says.
However, the main cause of death for the Iberian lynx is not in the number of rabbits in a location, but from crushing on the roads and subsequent poaching.
Headlines such as “Two specimens of lynx crushed to death on two roads in Doñana” still appear in the media. Ending this problem is something organizations like the WWF have been doing for a “long time”. He explains that the most important thing to solve this is to clear the sides of the roads so that the lynx can see the car and most importantly, the driver can see the lynx first. Another means of putting an end to this is signage, but it makes it more dynamic, because having a fixed signage “finally gets used to it and forgets,” Ayala says. The measure to avoid this is to place signs on the roads that “operate only when there are animals nearby, or that sense the proximity of wildlife to the roads.”
“Train” agents and prosecutors
Another cause of death for this species, which it continues to fight daily, is poaching. “It’s a very complex issue because it’s very difficult to detect,” explains Ramón Pérez de Ayala, who thinks that the best tool to end this problem is “more surveillance and more teams working in the field to detect possible spots.” .” is where this problem occurs.
Despite all the previous work that could be done to end poaching, the expert explains, “there is an afterthought” because when an illegal death occurs, “Civil Guards and Forest Officers must be very well trained so that prosecutors can take these issues more seriously, as well as raising awareness and identifying evidence.” They also do the process very well.” Even today, hundreds of poaching cases continue to be reported, and only less than a dozen of them are subsequently prosecuted.
The goal of these organizations and programs fighting to conserve the Iberian lynx is to triple the number of specimens available by 2040 so that this species is no longer considered “endangered” and eventually cataloged as “not endangered.” . The work is paying off, and Pérez de Ayala believes he is on the “right track” to achieve this goal.