The lynx continues to give good news. The Iberian Peninsula already has 2,021 specimens of Iberian lynx in the wild, according to the 2023 census coordinated by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition. They are 20 times more exemplary than the 94 individuals who survived in 2002 when the program started to save them from a disappearance that seemed imminent. The lynx (Lynx pardinus) is an endangered species whose recovery is an example of unique success in a species recovery program. The number of specimens on the Peninsula increased by 21% in 2023 compared to the previous year.
The new census has counted 353 new specimens compared to 2022, consolidating a trend of continued growth.
This positive demographic evolution allows us to be optimistic about the reduction in the risk of extinction of the Iberian lynx, according to Javier Salcedo, coordinator of the Iberian Lynx Recovery Plan in Andalusia and director of Life Lynx Connect.
“In the census released in 2020 we had 1,000 specimens, and four years later, the figure has doubled,” Salcedo tells this newspaper. For this person in charge, other positive data are that a stable level is maintained in the percentage of accidents (around 6% of the total) and the more than 400 reproductive females, “which guarantees the high level of reproductive power” of this species. .
The majority of the specimens (85.5%) are found in Spain, located mainly in ten centers in Andalusia, eight in Extremadura and six in Castilla-La Mancha.
In Portugal, 291 lynxes move in the Guadiana Valley area, in three different sub-nuclei.
There are four Spanish autonomous communities that host stable populations of the species. Andalusia welcomed 755 specimens, which represents 43.6% of the Spanish population, while in Castilla-La Mancha 715 lynxes were recorded (41.3%). In Extremadura, 253 specimens were counted and seven in the Region of Murcia.
In total there are 20 centers with a stable presence of lynxes throughout the Peninsula.
The most important centers are located in the surroundings of Sierra Morena, the Montes de Toledo, the Guadiana Valley and the Matachel area in Extremadura.
Specifically, the last census counts 336 in the Montes de Toledo, 271 in Andújar-Cardeña (Jaén), 232 in Campo de Montiel (Ciudad Real), 201 in Guarrizas (Jaén), 168 in Matachel (Badajoz), 167 in Guadalmez (Ciudad Real) and 130 in Doñana-Aljarafe (Huelva), among the main settlement points.
The distribution maps of this species show for the first time its presence in Lorca (Murcia) and Sierra Arana (Granada), where reintroductions began in 2023.
“The lynx population continues to expand, both numerically and territorially,” say experts from the Ministry for the Ecological Transition. There are now 14 different geographical areas where the species reproduces and there are new areas of stable presence in the Region of Murcia and in the provinces of Albacete, Badajoz, Toledo and Ciudad Real.
“The population trend is positive and has continued since 2015, which allows us to remain optimistic due to the reduction in the risk of extinction of the Iberian lynx,” the technicians add.
Those responsible for the monitoring program observe that the dispersion movements of the lynx continue, starting from the different areas of stable presence, extending over an indefinite and wide surface of the Peninsula.
Although monitoring lynxes in many cases allows for detailed information on the dispersions of many individuals, the maps offered by the program focus on providing data related to areas of stable presence.
Some dispersive movements end up establishing new areas of stable presence of the lynx, which results in the information related to these settlements being updated in the censuses.
The expansion of the lynx began with the populations of Doñana-Aljarafe and Andújar-Cardeña, which are the groups of animals that remained in 2002; They are those who survived an extinction that seemed certain; and from this nucleus its recovery was undertaken thanks to reintroduction programs. Since the first releases of individuals born in captivity into the natural environment began in 2011, 372 specimens have been reintroduced by 2023.
The reintroduction areas initially selected for the release of lynxes were Vale do Guadiana in Portugal, Guarrizas and Guadalmellato in Andalusia, Montes de Toledo and Sierra Morena Oriental in Castilla-La Mancha, and Matachel in Extremadura.ç
And subsequently, new reintroduction areas approved by the Iberian lynx working group have been incorporated upon verification of compliance with the ecological and social requirements to address reintroduction.
Thus, the nuclei of Sierra Arana in Andalusia, Valdecañas-Ibores and Ortiga in Extremadura, Tierras Altas de Lorca in the Region of Murcia and Campos de Hellín in Castilla-La Mancha already have released and settled specimens of the Iberian lynx.
Other connection areas also host lynxes on a stable basis, either through releases of specimens born in captivity or through natural settlements of wild specimens, in the provinces of Seville, Toledo or in the Cabañeros National Park.
The connection between the different subpopulations is currently one of the main objectives of the reintroduction program (Lynxconnect), so when these natural settlements occur between subpopulations the program begins to intervene in these corridors or connection points and assesses the convenience of implementing its management.
On other occasions, natural settlements may occur in areas that are outside the planned scope of action.
Experts detect that the southern area of Sierra Morena is experiencing a natural expansion of the species, which takes advantage of the high availability of prey.
The result of these expansions is that the subpopulations of Andújar-Cardeña, Guarrizas, Guadalmellato, Campo de Montiel and Guadalmez “function as a metapopulation, given that there is fluid genetic exchange between them.”
The program currently being carried out seeks to increase both the overall size of the population and the connectivity between Iberian Lynx nuclei to ensure a self-sustaining and viable population.
In 2023, the Lynxconnect project has released a total of 34 lynxes in the reintroduction areas created in previous Life projects and in previously selected locations.
These reintroduced lynxes come in some cases from the captive breeding program (there are four centers for this) or are wild animals that have been translocated.
In the case of the releases carried out in Lorca, they are “soft releases”; That is to say, the animals have not been set free from the first moment but have gone through a phase of adaptation in the natural environment in a reintroduction enclosure while the rest of the releases have been “hard”, since they have been released directly to the natural environment.
During the year 2023, the death of a total of 189 Iberian lynx specimens has been detected. As already explained in the 2021 censuses, the probability of detection of individuals who die is highly variable, which has generally led to the overestimation of cases of accidents and the underestimation of deaths due to poaching or diseases.
The fact is that for some specific causes of mortality, the probability of detecting an individual that is radiolabeled is much greater than that of detecting an individual that is not radiolabeled.
For this reason, experts maintain that it is most convenient to consider only the data provided by radiolabeled individuals.
However, the number of accidents is very high, regardless of whether the individual in question is radiomarked or not. Statistics and graphs show that in the last 12 years, each year, the weight of accidents remains stable compared to the size of the population and is around 6/7%, according to Salced
The recovery of the Iberian lynx population in Spain and Portugal is one of the best examples of conservation actions for threatened species in the world and has been possible thanks to the coordinated efforts made by both administrations and interested sectoral entities, owners and managers of private properties and society in general.
The financial contribution of the Spanish and Portuguese administrations and the European Union, through the LIFE program, has been key to the execution of monitoring and research work and to improving survival, reproduction and habitat improvement rates.