Mammals
Iberian Lynx
Lynx pardinus · also called Iberian lynx, Spanish lynx, lince ibérico
Twenty years ago the Iberian lynx was expected to become the first cat species to go extinct since the sabre-tooths — down to about 100 animals in two pockets of southern Spain. Today there are more than 2,000, and it has become the textbook example of a carnivore pulled back from the edge.
Overview
The Iberian lynx lives only in the Mediterranean scrubland, open woodland, and pasture mosaics of southern and central Spain and southern Portugal. It is a small lynx — 9–13 kg — with a bright spotted coat, long black ear tufts, and a heavy facial “beard.” It is a rabbit specialist: the European rabbit is 80–100% of its diet, and an adult needs roughly one a day.
The collapse
Habitat loss, roads, snares, and — decisively — the collapse of rabbit numbers from myxomatosis and rabbit haemorrhagic disease cut the lynx to about 100 animals by 2002.
The recovery
A coordinated captive-breeding, habitat-restoration, rabbit-recovery, and reintroduction programme across Spain and Portugal rebuilt the population past 2,000 by 2024, and the IUCN downlisted it from Critically Endangered to Vulnerable.
Status
The Iberian lynx is Vulnerable and increasing, but not self-sustaining — it still depends on releases, rabbit management, and road-safety work, and remains highly exposed to any new rabbit disease outbreak. Vehicle collisions are now the leading direct cause of death.
Iberian Lynx: common questions
Why did the Iberian lynx nearly go extinct?
Several pressures combined and reinforced each other. Its Mediterranean scrub habitat was cleared for farming, plantations, dams, and development, and fragmented by roads. It was heavily hunted and trapped historically, and later killed in snares and traps set for rabbits and other animals, and on roads. Most decisively, its food supply collapsed — the European rabbit, which makes up almost the entire lynx diet, was hit first by myxomatosis in the 1950s and then by rabbit haemorrhagic disease from the late 1980s, and in many areas rabbit numbers fell by 90 percent or more. A cat that needs a rabbit a day cannot survive that. By 2002 only about 100 lynx remained, in two small, isolated populations in southern Spain.
How was the Iberian lynx brought back?
Through one of the most intensive species-recovery programmes ever run for a carnivore, coordinated between Spain, Portugal, and the EU. Key elements were a captive-breeding network that produced kittens for release; restoration and legal protection of scrubland habitat and the creation of corridors between populations; large-scale rabbit recovery work, including building warrens, vaccinating and translocating rabbits, and managing land for them; reintroduction of lynx into more than a dozen new areas across both countries to spread the risk; wildlife crossings, speed limits, and fencing to cut road deaths; and payments and agreements with private landowners and hunting estates, many of which now actively protect lynx. The population passed 2,000 in 2024 and the IUCN moved the species from Critically Endangered to Vulnerable.
How is the Iberian lynx different from the Eurasian lynx?
They are separate species. The Iberian lynx is much smaller, typically 9 to 13 kilograms against 18 to 30 for the Eurasian lynx, and has a brighter, more heavily spotted tan coat, a shorter tail, and a very pronounced beard-like facial ruff. It is also far more specialised — the Eurasian lynx is a generalist that mainly hunts small deer such as roe deer across a vast range from Western Europe to Siberia, while the Iberian lynx is confined to the Iberian Peninsula and is almost wholly dependent on the European rabbit. The two do not overlap in range today; the Iberian lynx is the only cat found exclusively in Europe.
Is the Iberian lynx still endangered?
It is still legally protected and classified as Vulnerable, which means it remains at risk but is no longer facing imminent extinction. The recovery is genuine and remarkable, but it is not self-sustaining yet. The population depends on continued captive breeding and releases, active rabbit management, road-safety measures, and landowner cooperation, and it is highly exposed to any new rabbit disease outbreak, to a severe disease event in the lynx themselves (such as feline leukaemia, which killed animals in one population in 2007), and to habitat loss and climate change drying out its scrubland. Conservationists treat the current status as encouraging but fragile.