Environment

The world's rarest cat may yet avoid extinction - by a whisker. Around 200 Iberian lynx were thought to survive in just two locations in southern Spain. Now a small number of cats have been discovered living in pockets of forest across the country's centre, and these animals may help save the species.

The Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) once lived across the Iberian Peninsula, but trapping, loss of habitat and a crash in the numbers of its main prey, rabbit, have devastated its population. Two separate populations of around 50 and 150 survive within Andalusia.

If the Iberian lynx were to become extinct, it would be the first big cat species to do so since the sabre-toothed Smilodon, some 10,000 years ago.

However, a team of researchers led by Fernando Alda and Ignacio Doadrio of the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid surveyed five central regions of Spain looking for lynx faeces. Within four they found scat from the lynx, as confirmed by genetic analysis (Animal Conservation, DOI: 10.111/j.1469-1795.2008.00185.x). It is too soon to say how many cats survive in these regions, but in one, along the Guadalmez river, photographic evidence suggests tens of the animals are at large, including cubs.

"These lynx could have an important 'genetic rescue effect'," says Alda, if they could be mated with captive animals to bolster the species' dwindling gene pool. We should quickly try to conserve these remnant populations, he says, but points out that "the lands where these lynx occur are mainly private estates that promote hunting", so it is crucial to raise conservation awareness, and incentivise the estate owners. "Unfortunately, neither action exists in Spain," he says.

Endangered species - Learn more about the conservation battle in our comprehensive special report.

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