The Iberian Lynx is one of the world’s most endangered felines. Today, there are only a few hundred left of them. The last time that the population of these animals were assessed, there were estimated to be 404 Iberian Lynxes in the wild, which remains the estimated number today.
The Iberian Lynx is one of the 36 known cat species in the world. As much of the Amazon rainforest remains unexplored to this day, perhaps there may be at least one more cat species that we have not discovered - in 2017, there were almost 400 new species found in the Amazon rainforest, which could mean that there are other species which still remain undiscovered today.
Cats are one of the most successful animals on the planet. Not only because they are pets all around the world, but also because cats in the wild are found in every continent in the world except Antarctica. But even at that, cats have also been on Antarctica, cats were first brought to Antarctica in 1820 - the first cat to reach Antarctica reached the South Shetland Islands, resulting in the start of cats even roaming a continent they weren’t native to.
One place cats are native to is Europe. There are several different wild cat species that are native to Europe, including wildcats, the Eurasian Lynx, and the Iberian Lynx.
Let’s look at five interesting facts about the Iberian Lynx!
#5 Their name
The Iberian Lynx partly gets their name from their home countries of Portugal and Spain - the Iberian peninsula consists of both Portugal and Spain.
And the word ‘Lynx’ means ‘to shine’ which has beautiful connotations.
#4 They Are The Rarest Lynx Species
The Iberian Lynx is the rarest Lynx species.
Today, there are a total of four Lynx species. The four Lynx species are 1) the Bobcat, 2) the Eurasian Lynx, 3) the Canadian Lynx and 4) the Iberian Lynx. The Iberian Lynx is the most endangered out of all of the four Lynx species, there are only a few hundred left of them, and they are an endangered species.
#3 They Have Been Brought Back From The Brink
Although they are the rarest of all the Lynx species and are endangered, the Iberian Lynx has seen successful conservation work applied to them over the last two decades.
In 2002, these animals were closer to extinction than they are today and were classed as being critically endangered. Today they are no longer critically endangered, as in 2015 they were removed from being a critically endangered species and upgraded to being an endangered species.
#2 The World’s Second Most Endangered Cat
It is thought that the Iberian Lynx is the world's second most endangered big cat - but if we class the Scottish Wildcat as a separate species/subspecies from the European Wildcat, then the Iberian Lynx becomes the third most endangered cat species in the world.
The cat species thought to be the most endangered today is the Amur Leopard.
#1 Less Than 100 Of Them Remained
In 2002, less than 100 of these animals remained.
Since then, in the past 20 years, their numbers have increased to 404, which makes these animals one of the modern world's great conservation success stories.
Sources:
https://www.felineworlds.com/lynx-species-overview/
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