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Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) - Ngala - 05-01-2016

This is post i would dedicate to Iberian Lynx, Lynx pardinus (Temminck, 1827). 

This is the world's most endangered cat species; now is considered endangered, but it was for a long time critically endangered; if the Iberian Lynx becomes extinct, it would be the first feline species since Smilodon (the sabre-toothed cat) around 10,000 years ago. Now i write some information from IUCN Red List.

I share soon other information from sources that treat it. If you are interested, share all information, photos and videos.

Taxonomic notes:
Was previously considered conspecific with Lynx lynx by some authorities, but is currently accepted as a distinct species on the basis of both genetics (Johnson et al.2006, Eizirik et al. submitted) and morphology (Werdelin 1981, Wozencraft 2005).

Range Description:
The Iberian Lynx is restricted to two separate regions of southwestern Spain, namely eastern Sierra Morena and the coastal plains west of the lower Guadalquivir. These isolated subpopulations have been named by Simón et al. (2012) as Andújar-Cardeña and Doñana-Aljarafe, respectively. Two new nuclei are being founded though reintroduction 30 km southwest (Guadalmellato) and northeast (Guarrizas), respectively, of the existing Sierra Morena subpopulation, and contained a few breeding females in 2012 (Simón 2013). Five additional sites in four Spanish regions (Andalusia, Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura, Murcia) and Portugal are being prepared for reintroduction; the first release in Portugal happened in late 2014 (Iberlince LIFE project 2014).

Countries occurrence:
Native: Spain
Reintroduced: Portugal (Portugal (mainland))

Population:
The extensive survey by Guzmán et al. (2004), carried out primarily during 2001, yielded an estimate of 26-31 breeding territories which could correspond to a maximum of 62 mature individuals. According to estimates produced in the framework of successive European Union LIFE Nature conservation projects, population size tripled from 52 mature individuals in 2002 to 156 in 2012 (Simón et al. 2012, Simón 2013).

Habitat and Ecology:
The Iberian Lynx is a strict feeding specialist; the European Rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) accounts for 80-99% of its diet (Ferreras et al. 2010). The Iberian Lynx is also a habitat specialist that breeds only in Mediterranean shrubland containing dense rabbit populations (Palomares et al. 2000, Palomares 2001). Threshold rabbit densities for lynx reproduction are 4.5 ind./ha during the annual population peak and 1.0 ind./ha during the annual trough (Palomares et al. 2001). Productive breeding territories also contain a high density of scrub-pasture ecotones which favour both ecological conditions for rabbits and a structure suitable for lynx hunting (Palomares 2001, Fernández et al. 2003). Other essential habitat elements include natural cavities that are used as natal dens (Fernández et al. 2002, 2006). On the other hand, forestry landscapes, farmland or other open land devoid of native shrubs are rarely used by resident lynx (Palomares et al.1991) but occasionally used by subadults during natal dispersal (Palomares et al. 2000).

Major Threat(s):
During the 20th century hunting and trapping were major sources of mortality associated with predator control and exploitation of wild rabbits (Rodríguez and Delibes 2004). Whereas the importance of this factor as a threat for Iberian Lynx has decreased (Ferreras et al. 2010), during the last years some lynx have been shot or caught with illegal traps (Iberlince LIFE Project 2014). Road casualties typically produce several losses each year (Simón et al. 2012, Iberlince LIFE Project 2014), as the length of paved or widened roads, as well as average traffic loads, have significantly increased in and around lynx areas (Ferreras et al. 2010).
Homogenization of mosaic cultural landscapes due to agricultural and silvicultural intensification during the 20th century conceivably contributed to lynx decline (Rodríguez and Delibes 2002, Ferreras et al. 2010). Continued trends of abandonment of marginal livestock farming and loss of small game, sometimes followed by afforestation, further reduce the amount of potentially suitable habitat for reintroduction. Without viable land uses, maintaining suitable mosaic landscapes for the Iberian Lynx would require enduring and expensive intensive management (Rodríguez 2013). Even in landscapes with suitable structure and subject to intensive conservation management, rabbit abundance exhibits large temporal variability closely tracked by the probability of lynx breeding (Palomares et al. 2001, Fernández et al. 2007, Iberlince LIFE project undated).
Effective population size does not exceed 25 for each isolated subpopulation (Casas-Marcé et al. 2013), announcing further losses of genetic diversity and accumulation of inbreeding through genetic drift. Indeed, persistent small population size over lynx generations, especially in the lowlands of the Doñana region, have produced signs of both demographic and genetic deterioration, including biased sex-ratios, decreased age of territory acquisition and litter size, and increased mortality due to disease and other natural causes (Palomares et al. 2012). Lowered demographic and genetic performance could positively interact in the form of an extinction vortex (Palomares et al. 2012).
As a manifestation of global change, human-assisted spread of virulent diseases affecting European Rabbits had catastrophic effects on Iberian Lynx populations in the past (Ferreras et al. 2010). Although rabbits could eventually develop resistance, viral diseases remain a recurrent threat as the arrival of new strains may cause again a lasting depression of food availability for the Iberian Lynx. Moreover, the prevalent rabbit lineage in southwestern Iberia, where rabbit restocking and other conservation measures take place, might be more vulnerable to rabbit haemorrhagic disease (RHD) than the northeastern lineage (Real et al. 2009). For example, a new RHD strain has been blamed for an annual 62% decrease in productivity (average number of kittens per territorial female) in Andújar-Cardeña subpopulation (Iberlince LIFE project, undated). Likewise, diseases affecting felids also spread, sometimes with the help of uncontrolled pets that become feral or visit lynx areas from nearby towns. For example, in 2007 a feline leukaemia outbreak killed a substantial fraction of lynx in Doñana (López et al. 2009, Palomares et al. 2011a). Finally, detailed models combining ecological niche and metapopulation dynamics show that, without intensive intervention, climate change will rapidly decrease lynx populations and would probably lead to Iberian Lynx to extinction within 35 years (Fordham et al. 2013).

Source: Lynx pardinus from IUCN Red List 

Fortunately, it's a short time ago that the total population is growing (94 in 2002 to 404 in 2015), but the population is still low, while the number of deaths is high.

Photo and information credits: Martin Steenhaut

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Photo and information credits: Francisco Expòsito Campoy

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Photo and information credits: José Luis Ojeda

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Photo and information credits: Juan Francisco Jimenez Lopez

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Photo and information credits: Danny Vokins

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Photo and information credits: Chris Townend

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Photo and information credits: John Cancalosi

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RE: Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) - Sully - 05-01-2016


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RE: Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) - Sully - 05-01-2016

BROOKE BOND IBERIAN LYNX!
December 19, 2015

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This is 'Guadiato' a male lynx known from the Cordoba area - he wandered c.70km to get to Puerto Bajo!
ADDING IBERIAN LYNX TO MY COLLECTION OF 'TEA CARD STYLE' PHOTOS wasn’t something I’d imagined would ever be possible. Thanks to my friends at Wildwatching Spain I was able to rattle off hundreds of frames of this beautiful creature from a photo hide on the pretty Puerto Bajo estate in the Sierra de Andújar of Andalucia. I was lucky to have five sightings in three days, four from the hide, three of them very good indeed (a male and a female) and another male along the well-known public road south of the Embasle de Jandular. The first was so good that my shutter finger was still shaking after it! It takes a lot to get me that excited these days! The Sierra de Andújar is another lovely corner of Spain, just northeast of Cordoba, with a rolling landscape covered in Mediterranean scrub and Cork Oak/Strawberry Tree woodland. There is also a good population of rabbits here, the favourite prey of the lynx, thanks to a massive conservation effort, which now seems to be paying dividends in bringing this wonderful creature back from the brink of extinction. As everywhere in rural Spain, the food here is fantastic as well. It’s simple but I love waking up to a breakfast with toast, olive oil, the best in the world, pressed in the last month, fresh tomato spread and this year’s freshly squeezed orange juice. Shhhh it’s almost as good as the lynx! Thanks to Iñaki Reyero, Juan Carlos Poveda Vera and Fernando Prieto.

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Guadiato takes a look at the photo hide, wondering what all the shutter noise is?

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He pauses to look back over his shoulder as he crosses a country road.

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In lovely early morning light the next day.

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Iberian Lynxes are truly magnificent animals!

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This is the adult female of the estate, 'Gema', only a little more slightly built than Guadiato.

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She is also hunting for rabbits.

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Gema checks out a rabbity old log.



RE: Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) - Ngala - 05-02-2016

Photo and information credits: Héctor Garrido

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RE: Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) - Ngala - 05-05-2016

Photo and information credits: Jorge Sierra

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RE: Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) - Ngala - 05-14-2016

Fantastic news!

THIS IS THE FIRST IBERIAN-LYNX CUB BORN IN THE WILD IN PORTUGAL by Helena Geraldes
For the first time in almost 40 years it has been confirmed the first Iberian-lynx cub born in the wild in Portugal. This is a new era for the fight to bring this species back from almost extinction.
Fifteen years ago we were loosing Iberian-lynx (Lynx pardinus), one of the four lynx species on the planet – together with the Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx), bobcat (Lynx rufus) and Canada lynx (Lynx canadensis).
By 2002 there were only 200 left in the world, down from 100.000 Iberian-lynx in Portugal 150 years ago.
Since then, a lot of conservation work has been done. And yesterday, 5th May, the Portuguese Government confirmed “the first Iberian-lynx cub being born in the Guadiana Valley Natural Park”, in the south of the country.

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In a press release, the authorities explained that a cub with 45 days had been photographed next to her mother, Jacarandá, the first Iberian-lynx reintroduced in the wild in Portugal, on 16th December 2014”.
The team of technicians and biologists working in the species conservation identified both the cub and the mother at a property in the region, Herdade das Romeiras.

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Jacarandá e a cria. Foto: ICNF

Portuguese authorities consider this as a “mark in the Iberian-lynx’s conservation, since this is the first successful known reproduction in the wild for decades.”
According to the last census on the Iberian-lynx world population, in 2015 there were a total of 10 animals living in Guadiana Valley, four of them territorial females.

What does this means?
An endangered species being born is always a special moment. But this time it was even more special. There have been no confirmed Iberian-lynx births in this country since 1980. In those days, people felt like this feline was doomed to disappear.
The Iberian-lynx’s births started in Portugal by 2010, only in captivity. Just six months after the opening of the CNRLI, the Portuguese breeding centre, in Silves (Algarve), two cubs were born. This was the first confirmed reproduction in this country in the last 30 years. But the cubs died a few days later of congenital problems. In 2011, five cubs were born at CNRLI but none have survived.
Finally, in 2012, the first litters survived and Jacarandá was one of the cubs. She was Flora and Foco’s daughter, two lynx that still live at CNRLI, next to other 18 animals.
This female, Jacarandá, was the first Iberian-lynx to be reintroduced in the wild in Portugal, on 16th December 2014, in Alentejo, in one of the most important conservation projects in Europe, the Iberlince project. Its aim is to recover the historical distribution of the species, in Portugal and in Spain.
Today we heard from her again. Jacarandá has given birth to one cub, in nature.
The Iberlince project is working to increase natural populations with animals born in captivity. The reintroductions started in 2012 in Andaluzia Spanish region and in 2014 in other locations (Portugal – Guadiana Valley, Castela-La Mancha and Extremadura, both in Spain).
This year three females reintroduced in the wild gave birth to nine cubs: Keres with four, Kuna with four and Jacarandá with one cub.

Is the Iberian-lynx out of danger?
Jacarandá’s cub is a step forward in this conservationist fight. But the species is not out of danger yet.
By 22 June 2015, the International Union for Nature Conservation (IUCN) decided to remove the species from the Critically Endangered list. Now, Iberian-lynx is an Endangered species. Today there are 404 Iberian-lynx in the wild, with the biggest populations in the Andaluzia region.
Still, there’s work to be done. “We must continue our conservation effort in order to ensure the specie’s expansion and the growth of the populations in the future”, said Urs Breitenmoser, from IUCN, last year to Wilder.
The biggest challenges are the loss of habitat and prey (wild rabbit), deaths in the roads and illegal hunting.

RE: Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) - Ngala - 05-29-2016

Photo credits: Francisco Exposito Campoy

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Photo credits: Miguel López Morales

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Photo credits: Agustin Pérez Amil 

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Photo credits: Agustín Muñoz Luna

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RE: Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) - Ngala - 06-08-2016

Fantastic news: reproduction in all reintroduced Iberian lynx populations confirmed! 29 cubs were born in the four reintroduction cites.

El Gobierno regional confirma el nacimiento de una nueva camada de lince ibérico en Sierra Morena oriental, en la provincia de Ciudad Real

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RE: Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) - Ngala - 06-27-2016

Photo and information credits: Alex Sliwa

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Photo and information credits: Francisco Jamardo Sánchez

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Photo and information credits: Carmen Cazalilla Herrera

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Photo and information credits: Danny Vokins

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Photo and information credits: Wild Doñana

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Photo and information credits: Wild Doñana

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RE: Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) - Ngala - 06-28-2016

Footprints of Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) in the Upper Pleistocene from Pessegueiro Island (Portugal) Neto de Carvalho, 2014

Abstract: 
"Many fossil footprints of mammals and birds have been described in Pleistocene-age eolianite formations from SW Alentejo, constituting an interesting record hitherto completely unknown. Here is reported the occurrence of rare footprints from a medium-sized felid probably attributed to the Iberian lynx, which was recently considered close to extinction in Portugal."

RE: Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) - Polar - 06-28-2016

@Ngala,

Is there a translated version of this document?

RE: Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) - Ngala - 06-28-2016

(06-28-2016, 06:36 AM)Polar Wrote: @Ngala,

Is there a translated version of this document?

I'm sorry Polar, but i didn't found the article in english.

RE: Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) - Ngala - 12-03-2016

Photo and information credits: Naturalezavision - Isaac Fernández Galisteo Wildlife Photography
Cuando la naturaleza te regala su mayor tesoro. Lince ibérico en libertad en el PN Sierra de Andújar.
© Isaac Fernández Galisteo

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RE: Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) - Ngala - 12-06-2016

Iberian Lynx from Lince Ibérico (Lynx pardinus) S.O.S., credits to © Jose Manuel Bernal Garrido.

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RE: Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) - Ngala - 12-10-2016

Iberian Lynx from Lince Ibérico (Lynx pardinus) S.O.S., credits to © Jose Maria Finat.

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