Elusive, Endangered, and Essential
The Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) is one of Europe’s most captivating and endangered wild cats, found today in just a handful of places in southern Spain and Portugal. One of its most important strongholds is the Dunas de Doñana National Park, near Sanlúcar de Barrameda. Here, unlike other regions where it lives at higher elevations, the lynx thrives at sea level in the park’s vast mosaic of Mediterranean scrubland, pine forests, and dynamic dunes.
Doñana is world-renowned not only for its marshes and birdlife, but also as a critical refuge for the Iberian lynx. The park’s dense thickets and open clearings provide the perfect habitat for this elusive feline, offering plenty of cover for stalking prey and quiet spots for raising young. The abundance of wild rabbits — a lynx’s primary food source — is essential for their survival, and conservationists in Doñana work tirelessly to maintain healthy rabbit populations to support the lynx.
Once widespread across the Iberian Peninsula, the lynx’s range shrank dramatically throughout the 20th century due to habitat loss, declining rabbit populations, and human pressures. By the early 2000s, fewer than 100 individuals remained, making it the world’s most endangered feline. Thanks to intensive conservation efforts, including habitat restoration and captive breeding, the population has rebounded to several hundred, but the species is still considered endangered and strictly protected throughout its range.
The Iberian lynx is a key indicator of Mediterranean ecosystem health. Its dependence on healthy rabbit populations and undisturbed scrubland means that where the lynx thrives, so does a rich web of wildlife. The presence of lynx also helps control populations of other small carnivores, maintaining balance in the ecosystem.
Today, the Iberian lynx is a symbol of hope for European wildlife conservation. Visitors to Dunas de Doñana National Park may be lucky enough to spot this elusive cat at dawn or dusk, moving silently through the undergrowth. Its recovery is a testament to what can be achieved when communities, scientists, and governments work together to protect nature’s most vulnerable treasures.