Iberian Lynx

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{{Taxobox | color = pink | name = Spanish Lynx | status = Conservation status: Critical | image = Iberian-lynx.jpg | image_width = 200px | regnum = Animalia | phylum = Chordata | classis = Mammalia | ordo = Carnivora | familia = Felidae | genus = Lynx | species = L. pardinus | binomial = Lynx pardinus | binomial_authority = (Temminck, 1827) }} The Spanish Lynx (Lynx pardinus, sometimes Felis pardina) or Iberian Lynx is sometimes classified as a subspecies of the Eurasian Lynx, but most authorities regard it as a separate species. While the Eurasian Lynx bears rather pallid markings, the Spanish Lynx has distinctive, leopard-like spots. It is furthermore smaller than its northern relative and hence hardly able to hunt animals larger than hares, and rabbits are its main prey. However, when hungry, the Spanish Lynx may attack young deer or mouflons.

This lynx was once distributed over all of Spain and Portugal. It is now largely restricted to mountainous areas, because it is extinct in the lowlands. Spanish Lynxes prefer open grassland with few trees. They hunt at night, and in the daytime they hide under the shrubs.

The Spanish Lynx is critically endangered and the world's most threatened species of cat. Estimates of March 2005 have put the figure in as few as 100, down from a thousand a decade ago, scattered in tiny reservations. A very few may remain in Portugal, but in fact the only breeding populations left are in Spain, located in the Coto Doñana National Park and in the Sierra de Andújar, Jaén. Lynxes and their habitats are fully protected and not hunted anymore, but they are critically endangered, mainly due to road casualties, illegal hunting and the decimation of hares and rabbits, its almost exclusive prey, by diseases like myxomatosis and haemorrhagic pneumonia.

Image:Mapa distribuicao lynx pardinus defasado.png However, there is still hope of survival after the birth of three cubs in captivity for the very first time, announced in March 29, 2005. Another four cubs have been born in 2006 and that seems to open up the prospect of a future reintroduction of the species in other areas of its former habitat.

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