Cristina Hodgson
THE Iberian lynx population continues to increase in the Iberian Peninsula, new figures have shown.
The latest census carried out across Spain and Portugal has concluded that the population in 2019 was 894.
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Andalucia has consolidated itself as the number one refuge for the Iberian Lynx, home to 57% of the endangered wild cat’s population, a percentage that rises to 70% if only the felines on Spanish soil are considered.
The largest colony is in Andujar-Cardeña, in Jaen, with 145 wild cats found; followed by Guarrizas, also in Jaen (with 71); Doñana-Aljarafe, in the provinces of Sevilla and Huelva (with 69 specimens) and Guadalmellato, in Cordoba (with a total of 46).
In other regions of Spain, Castilla-La Mancha is home to 84 lynx (17.7%), distributed between the Montes de Toledo and the eastern Sierra Morena, while 58 (12.2%) inhabit Extremadura.
In 2002, the Iberian lynx was identified as the world’s most endangered cat, with just 94 left in the wild.
Now, 18 years later, the latest census shows that there is a healthy population of individual Iberian lynx roaming the wilds of the southern Iberian Peninsula, including 188 breeding females.
Apart from the objective of increasing the population, the Junta together with programmes such as the new Life Lynxconnect programme are focused on connecting the different existing lynx nuclei and developing new lynx areas, specifically one in Murcia and another in Sierra Harana, in Granada.
