The population of Lince in the Iberian Peninsula reaches 475 in 2016 according to the provisional census of Life+IBERLINCE

In Andalusia, has been registered a total of 389 copies of Iberian Lynx

The population of Iberian Lynx in Andalusia is already 389, according to the data from the 2016 census conducted by the technicians of the project Life+IBERLINCE, which has been completed to 90% so the number could be somewhat higher. This represents an increase of 28 copies compared to the 2015 census, when 361 individuals were counted.

The results of the census, even provisional, confirm the upward trend that has been occurring year after year and despite the negative influence that hemorrhagic disease (EHVb) has had on the decline of wild rabbit populations throughout the Iberian Peninsula.

The increase of specimens in Andalusia has occurred thanks in large part to the contribution of two of the areas where the Iberian Lynx is present, those of Guarrizas and Andújar-Cardeña.

In the area of Andújar-Cardeña, 197 Iberian lynx have been counted (compared to 176 of 2015), figures similar to those of 2011 and that support the impact plan of the EHVb that began in 2013 , Thanks to which it has managed to recover the fall of the lincera population because of the new strain.

In the valley of Guarrizas (Jaén), where liberations began in 2011, 70 individuals have been census. There, for the first time, and following the recommendations of the IV Iberian Lynx Seminar, direct or "harsh" releases were made and also for the first time released two juveniles from captive breeding who underwent a pre- Adaptation to freedom.

In Doñana-Aljarafe, the population of Iberian Lynx has stabilized around 70/75 individuals (the 2016 census counts 72), although the situation could be reversed if rabbit densities improve.

In fact, and in response to this problem, the Ministry of Environment and Land Planning implemented in 2013 a crash plan in Doñana-Aljarafe and Andújar-Cardeña with wild rabbit repopulations that have helped to curb the fall of the Lince census Iberian, to the point of maintaining the upward trend.

Faced with another problem, the low genetic variability that affects, mainly, the population of Doñana-Aljarafe, the genetic reinforcement with lynx from the Sierra Morena is giving good results so that they seem to be decreasing the diseases as cause of death in this area.

As for the rest of the Iberian Peninsula, the census shows a population of 86 specimens (compared to 42 of 2015) spread over the different areas of reintroduction. Thus, in the natural park Vale do Guadiana (Mértola, Portugal), 19 individuals have been counted; In Matachel (Badajoz), 28; In the Montes de Toledo, 23; And in Sierra Morena Oriental, 16.

In total, adding these figures to those of Andalusia, a total of 475 copies are reached for the entire Iberian Peninsula, a figure that from the project Life+IBERLINCE is intended to consolidate in the coming years.

The results of the census are the achievement of one of the objectives with which the Life+IBERLINCE project was born. The connection of the different areas of presence in this way has been consolidating in Sierra Morena in recent years a single population that is not Limits to the areas of Andújar and Cardeña (as happened in 2002), but has been expanding to encompass nowadays from Villafranca (Córdoba) to Vilches (Jaén) and Almuradiel (Ciudad Real). It remains for the future to continue working in the connection with the reintroduction areas of outside of Andalusia.

Report of the 2016 census (provisional) at www.iberlince.eu: DOCUMENTS> PROJECT DOCUMENTS> REPORTS / SEMINARS> 2016 - Census of the Iberian Lynx population (provisional)