Saving a species: the slow return of the Iberian lynx.

With leopard-like spots, Navarro – a male lynx – vocalizes during mating season as he heads for a camera trap.

Smaller than 100 cm (39 in) in length and 45 cm in height, the Iberian lynx is a rare sight. But now there are more than 2,000 in the forests of Spain and Portugal, so you’re much more likely to see them than you were 20 years ago.

“The Iberian lynx was very close to extinction,” says Rodrigo Serra, who runs breeding programs in Spain and Portugal.

At the lowest point there were less than 100 non-interacting links between the two populations, and only 25 of these were females of reproductive age.

“The only feline species threatened at this level thousands of years ago was the saber-toothed tiger.”

The decline in the lynx population was partly due to over-use of land for agriculture, increased road kills, and the struggle for food.

Wild rabbits are essential prey for lynx and their numbers have declined by 95% due to two epidemics.

By 2005, Portugal had no lynx left, but that was the year Spain saw its first litter born in captivity.

It took another three years for Portugal to decide on a National Conservation Action Plan to save the species. A national breeding center for Iberian lynx was created in the Algarve at Slough.

Here they are monitored 24 hours a day. The aim is twofold – to prepare them for life in the wild and to pair them for reproduction.

Sierra speaks in a whisper, because even from 200 meters away you can cause stress for the animals in the 16 pens where most of the animals are kept.

Sometimes, though, tension is exactly what the links need.

“When we see a litter getting a little more confident, we go in and chase them and make noises so they get scared again and climb the fence,” Sierra says. “We are training them not to go near people in the forest.”

This is partly for their own protection, but so they stay away from people and their animals. “A lynx should be a lynx, not treated like a house cat.”

So the lynx never associate food with people, they are fed through a tunnel system in the center.

Then when the time comes, they are released into the wild.

Genetics determine where they end up, to minimize risks of extinction or disease. Even if a lynx was born in Portugal, it can be taken to Spain.

Pedro Sarmiento is responsible for reintroducing the lynx to Portugal and has studied the Iberian lynx for 30 years.

“As a biologist there are two things that strike me when I handle a lynx. It is an animal with a fairly small head and unusually wide paws for its body. They have the passion and ability to jump that are rare.”

Breeding programs and the return of lynxes have been hailed as major successes, but as their numbers grow there can be problems.

Because lynxes are often released on private land in Portugal, managers of breeding programs must first reach an agreement with the owners.

Where the animals go after that is up to them, and although there have been some attacks on chicken coops, Sarmiento says there haven’t been many.

“This can cause unease among local people. We are strengthening the copses so that the lynx cannot access them, and in some cases we monitor the lynx and scare them if necessary. “

He told the story of Lítio, one of the first links released in Portugal.

Lítio remained in the area for six months, but then the team lost track of him.

Eventually he made his way to Duana, a national park in southern Spain where he originally came from.

As Lítio was ill, he was treated and then returned to the breeding team in the Algarve.

Within days of his release from the center he began to return to Duana, swimming the Gudiana River to reach Spain.

For a time he disappeared, but was eventually brought back to the Algarve.

When he was released for the third time, Lítio did not return to Spain but instead walked 3km (two miles), found a woman and never moved again.

“He’s the oldest lynx we’ve had here, and he’s had a lot of babies since then,” says Sarmiento.

Three decades after Spain decided to save the lynx, the species is no longer endangered, and Sarmiento hopes to reach a favorable conservation status by 2035.

To do this, numbers in the wild need to reach 5,000-6,000.

“I saw species disappearing. It’s the fact that we’re in a place where we can see lynx in nature or almost daily with camera trapping,” says Sarmiento.

The reproduction team is not satisfied and their work involves risks. Last year 80% of lynx deaths occurred on roads.

For now, though, they feel confident that the Iberian Lynx has been saved.