The Iberian lynx is a relation of the large carnivores (tigers, lions, jaguars and leopards), from which evolutionary line it separated about three or four million years ago. Because of its appearance, it is frequently associated with any of the other living groups of felines, but in evolutionary terms it is closer to a tiger than a cat.
Its most striking characteristics are its ear tufts and beard, key to its social communication, and a short tail of some 14 cm with a black tassel at the end. It also has those features proper to all felines: front-facing eyes which measure the distance to prey precisely, large eye sockets which let it see in very bad light, fur-covered triangular ears with acute hearing capable of detecting the stealthy tread of rabbits, and disproportionately large paws useful for grasping prey firmly and with sharp claws to prevent its escape. Its high profile is noticeable, the result of long hind paws which let it leap high while hunting.
Its thick fur is speckled, helping it camouflage itself in the scrub where it lives. Iberian lynxes are classified on the basis of the coat pattern, and three categories can be distinguished:
Fine speckling: Many small speckles distributed uniformly but tending to be concentrated on the flanks.
Intermediate speckling: The spots are larger and have a certain tendency to appear in lines, with two or more pairs of larger spots around the shoulders.
Coarse speckling of similar size to the intermediate one, but without any ordering.
The Iberian lynx has specialised in capturing rabbits, which make up nearly 90% of its prey. The prey species also include deer, hares, rodents, partridges and other birds. Its hunting technique is stalking, waiting for the prey to pass where it normally goes and approaching it stealthily when it appears. Its acute hearing and extraordinary sensitivity to light convert it into an excellent night hunter.
Lynxes have a single annual breeding season. After gestation of some 70 days, the female has a litter of 1 to 4 kits. When the mother moves, she carries the young, grasping them by the nape of the neck. From two months, the kits are able to follow their mother. The female brings up the young on her own.
This is a solitary animal, active at twilight and at night, especially in summer, becoming rather more diurnal in winter. The toms have large territories which overlap with the smaller ones of the females. The young remain close to their mother until their second year. They mew to communicate with each other and also snort as a warning.
The Iberian lynx is eminently a forest species and avoids open areas without coverage. It prefers areas of Mediterranean scrub with rocks which offer shelter and facilitate the capture of rabbits. The size of the territory needed by each animal is determined by the abundance of potential prey, but on average one lynx occupies at least one hectare, with areas of low scrub for rest and feeding areas with higher density of rabbits. In the past, it lived in almost all areas of the Peninsula which offer Mediterranean scrub and rabbits. In recent years its population has fallen drastically, with specimens now found in two zones of Andalusia: Doñana and Sierra de Andújar, in Jaén, and very locally in Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura and Portugal.
The Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) is a species endemic to the Iberian Peninsula and was until very recently considered the most endangered feline on the planet. Last June, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) reclassified the Iberian lynx, changing it from "critically endangered" to "endangered", indicating a recovery of the wild populations.
The main causes of the disappearance of the Iberian lynx are: the destruction of its Mediterranean scrubland habitat, the fall in rabbit populations due to the diseases introduced by man, persecution by man using traps, snares, shots, etc; the genetic isolation of its populations, road accidents.