Discovering The Missing Lynx

Iberian Lynx

Scientists in Spain have found the missing lynx.

But to be perfectly honest, they didn't know they were missing.

They're a group of Iberian lynx added to only 110 previously thought to exist. Their exact number and location hasn't been revealed, but Luis Suarez, head of the World Wildlife Fund's Species Program in Spain, says the organization is "excited and amazed by this discovery."

Resembling a bob cat with leopard-like spots, the Iberian lynx is said to have numbered more than 100,000 in Spain and Portugal at the turn of the last century. Since then, however, its decline has been steady - and seemingly irreversible. And the recent, rapid disappearance of local rabbits, its favorite prey, seemed ready to assure its extinction.

Suarez hopes the recent discovery of a new group will reinvigorate "action to save the world's most endangered cat species, " and result in Europe's highest level of protection under the Natura 2000 Program. Something his group has been requesting for years.

Suarez says that there's still time to save these rarest of cats, so that on our watch, there are no more missing lynx -- Iberian lynx, that is.

Script by Stephen Webb
Copyright 2008, Catalina Island Conservancy

Discovery Links

To learn more about today’s topic, please explore the links below:

• About the Iberian Lynx
• Animal Info
• World Wildlife Fund
• World Conservation Union Red List
• Natura 2000 Program