By Lin Heaton
Thankfully the Spanish government is aware of the plight of the endangered Spanish Lynx. Reserves have been appointed in the Andalucían province at Donana.
A full programme is active at all levels. The existence of the Lynx is set to improve. However one should never be reliant on only one source for the management of life resources of the planet and you too can play a part in improving the lot of our animal heritage. Being aware of the animal's existence itself is not enough. Everyone must become involved and become pro-active and actively be in support of sponsorship programmes in order to fund expensive programmes. Every cent you add to the kitty is better than not having added that cent. This series on wild life is set to make people aware of all our very delicate life cycles and aims to show how in the tottering balance we all are. However with awareness and assistance we can turn negative into positive
The Lynx is an endearing and uniquely peculiar looking animal, with tufted pointy ears and a ruff which resembles a bow tie surrounding the neck. They sport long whiskers and are the smallest of the Lynx breed in Europe. Lynx are found is small numbers throughout Africa and are also often sighted in Eurasia. Varieties of Lynx are found in small pockets in the Himalayas, Russia and Scandinavia, and these types are principally seen in mountainous areas, but have been extinct in Croatia and Slovenia since the early part of the 20th centaury. A breeding programme had been started in the UNITED STATES and two kittens were born there recently.
The general behaviour of the Lynx resembles the lonesomeness of the leopard. Usually solitary until they mate, a female will give birth to no more that 4 kittens, once a year.
Interestingly, one Lynx was even caught alive in a cage trap at Graystone Cabins near Barnardsville, NC, USA, - the animal was later released alive in a wilderness area within Madison County, NC. Although USFWS officials still deny the presence of Lynx in the southern Appalachians. The most recent sighting was reported in Sept 2007, along the Shope Creek Forest area. USFWS officials say that, if these sightings were in fact Lynx, they were most likely illegally held pets that were either let go or had escaped.
Spotting a Lynx is a very rare event in itself, due to the extremely shy ad solitary nature of the animal.
THE IBERIAN LYNX or the Spanish Lynx is the world's most critically endangered feline and is native to the Iberian península. It is not the same as the Eurasian Lynx, with which it is often confused, and has distinct markings that set it apart from the other Lynx varieties. Both the Eurasian and the Iberian Lynx were present in central Europe in the Pleistcene epoch and were separated by choice
While the Eurasian Lynx may have a pallid appearance, the Iberian Lynx has very distinct leopard-like spots. This face is more cat-like, and it also has a short stubby bob tail, tufted ears, long whiskers and very definite sideburns. Some Western Iberian Lynx were completely spotless, but these sadly are extinct.
The Iberian Lynx inhabits the lowland and bush and open scrub, as opposed to its sister breeds, who prefer loftier heights and distance from sea level. Spanish Lynx are active at night. They stay active in winter and their fur becomes thicker and paler. In extreme weather, they take shelter in caves or trees. Lynx bury any uneaten prey and return the next day to finish it off. Competing for food with the wild red fox and the wild cat, the Lynx in Spain and parts of Portugal, feed on rabbit, a food source which is currently sharply in decline in Spain, and so it also eats mouflons and rodents and they will even bring down some large game like Reindeer. On average, one rabbit a day will keep a Lynx reasonably well fed.
A loan hunter, the Lynx, ably assisted by the sound sources from the tufts on its ears and its feet covered with a thick coat of fur, will travel in complete silence and his approach is almost completely concealed.
A study completed in March 2005 shows that there about 100-150 lynx left in Spain. Prior counts had the breed at 2000. If the Lynx does become extinct, it will be the first cat to do so since the Smilodon.
The only breeding populations are found in the Donana National Park and Andjuar Jaen.
It is considered illegal to hunt the Lynx and its critical status is due to poisoning and road casualties, as well as change in the infrastructure of urbanizations. In addition to this, the lack of its natural prey - the rabbit -and disease, further adds to the very real dilemma.
In 2005 the birth of 3 kittens in captivity was announced, and the future of the Lynx at that point turned a corner. Plans to reintroduce it to the former habitat are a great prospect...and give new hope to what was at one point - leading to a disastrous end
Widespread deforestation resulted in the elimination of much of the animal's habitat, added to which it was, like so many of the larger European carnivores, relentlessly persecuted for the damage it inflicted on domestic livestock.
The Spanish Lynx has now been exterminated in most of its range except certain controlled hunting areas, known as "cotos", in the delta of the Guadalquivir in southern Spain. The exact total Iberian population is unknown, and includes an estimated 150 in the Coto Doñana, which is believed to hold the largest remaining population. It is hoped to purchase about 7,500 acres of the Marismas de Hinojos, adjoining the Coto Doñana to the south-east, to forestall the possibility of development and drainage and link up with a further area of reserve, due to be taken over by the Spanish Government, so as to form a single unit.
One of the few additional and completely wild places where the Lynx still exists and roams free in reasonable numbers is in the Toledo Mountains, south of Madrid. However, unbelievably, an estate there called Cabañeros is sought by the Spanish Air Force as a bombing range!!!. That area is also of great importance for birds, including 22 breeding pairs of the seriously-threatened black vulture, which I will report on in a later article, as well as black and white storks, great and little bustards, and many species of eagles and other birds of prey. Protests about this project have already been made by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh, President of the World Wildlife Fund, and Russell Peterson, President of the International Council for Bird Preservation.
Make yourself heard, too! Protest!