New lynx cubs born in the wild

The first lynx litters born in 2018 were detected in the Guadiana Valley reintroduction area.

Female Mirandilla’s litter is constituted by four cubs, as captured by photo-traps. This female was already breeding in 2017 and it is assumed that, in 2018, she mated with Navarro, a two-year-old male already born in the wild and with whom she shares part of the territory. Once this paternity is confirmed, this will become the first breeding case of a lynx already born in the Guadiana Valley, and we will thus be in the presence of a second generation of the species, born in the wild, in Portuguese territory.

The ICNF monitoring team also confirmed that it is Malva's litter, consisting of four cubs, looking healthy and robust, as captured by the video cameras placed in the field. This litter‘s paternity points to Mundo, a male from the Doñana area. This ensures a genetic flow between the Doñana and Guadiana Valley lynx populations.

Both litters must have been born about two months ago, and this is the age at which the young ones begin exploring the area surrounding the burrow with their progenitor.

Jacaranda, a six-year-old female, the first to establish territory in the Mértola municipality, had four offspring this year, increasing the number of confirmed offspring in the wild to 12.

This year - 2018 - we are still awaiting confirmation that a further 5 females may have successfully bred and that the number of cubs will reach 20. During 2016 and 2017, a total of 16 offspring were born in the wild, in the Guadiana Valley reintroduction area.

The ICNF gives all citizens the chance to get involved in this event, by voting on the names that will be assigned to these cubs at http://areasprotegidas.icnf.pt/lince/.

The reintroduction of Iberian lynx in Portugal is part of the LIFE Iberlince transnational project (LIFE+10/NAT/ES/000570), which, with successive confirmations of breeding in the wild, consolidates one of its objectives; that of establishing stable and viable populations in the Iberian Peninsula. The Iberian lynx is a species of Mediterranean ecosystems, and their conservation and sustainable management, along with this feline’s habitat, allow for the preservation of many other species of flora and fauna, thus presenting an opportunity to promote these territories.