Today, two new Iberian lynx specimens roam freely in the Guadalmellato reintroduction area (Córdoba)

Students from the Ferroviario school in Cordoba, who baptized one of the lynxes as 'Omeya', participated in their release into the wild

Two Iberian lynx specimens, a male and a female, were released this morning at the La Ventilla estate, located in the Villafranca de Córdoba municipality, within the Guadalmellato reintroduction area. Both specimens, 'Omeya' and 'Oxyura', join the existing Iberian lynx population in this area, which, according to the latest Iberian lynx census by the Life Iberlince project, amounts to 63 individuals.

Students of the Ferroviario school’s 4th and 5th grades, who last January chose the name of 'Omeya' for one of the lynxes to be released this season in the Guadalmellato valley, participated in said release. The other specimen, 'Oxyura' - daughter of Caña y Huerto - was 'baptized' through the #BautizaUnLince campaign carried out by Iberlince on social networks.

A total of three specimens, two males and one female, will be released this season in the Guadalmellato reintroduction area, where the first Iberian lynx releases began back in 2010. Two of them, 'Omeya' (son of 'Biznaga' and 'Drago') and' Oxyura ', from the Silves captive breeding centres (Portugal), and La Olivilla (Jaén) already roam this territory, and will be joined by another male in March or April.

The choice of this area for reintroduction is not accidental, since it was chosen for reintroduction, along with the Guarrizas Valley (Jaén), due to its habitat quality, high densities of rabbit populations, and strong social support for reintroduction, which includes the collaboration of private estate owners and hunting societies that manage lands where the lynx population group is concentrated.

The Iberian lynx population in the Guadalmellato area now stands at 63 individuals -13 individuals more than in the 2016 census. This figure accounts for an outstanding number of territorial females, a total of 15. Regarding the number of cubs, 25 new specimens were registered in 2017, versus the 16 born in the previous year.

Still regarding the 2017 census data, 547 specimens are accounted for in the Peninsula. This figure includes 402 individuals concentrated in the Andalusian territories where the feline is present, while the remaining 145 are distributed over Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura and the Guadiana Valley, in Portugal.