Spanish Lynx Felis lynx pardina time capsule: THE RED BOOK Wildlife in Danger The study of fossils and animal history tells us that the handsome lynx was distributed in latest Pleistocene (or Ice Age) times all over the forests of the northern world, from Britain and Ireland in the west of Europe to Newfoundland in eastern North America. It was contemporary with New Stone Age man in Britain and Ireland. Its relict type distribution has become accentuated in later historical times, particularly in Europe, where it is now very rare indeed except in some parts of Scandinavia and northern Russia.

© 1969. International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, pp79-80 Principle Authors: JAMES FISHER Deputy Chairman of the Countryside Commission of the United Kingdom, is famous for his many scientific papers, books, broadcasts, and television programmes on natural history. JACK VINCENT Formerly Director of the National Parks of Natal, now represents the International Council for Bird Preservation. NOEL SIMON Who was the founder and first Chairman of the East African Wild Life Society and Deputy Director of the Kenya National Parks, is responsible for the I.U.C.N.'s Operations Intelligence Centre.

The Spanish race of lynx, F.l. pardina, at one time ranged over the greater part of the Iberian Peninsula possibly as far north as the Pyrenees. A few may still exist in three parts of the Pyrenees - Gave d'Aspe, Massif de Néouvielle, and the Capcir. There is some doubt, however, whether the Pyrenean population belongs to the Spanish or to the typical race, the European lynx, F.l. lynx, which may possibly still survive in the Massif Central of France, but is otherwise found now no nearer than Scandinavia, Poland, and Czechoslovakia. Widespread deforestation resulted in the elimination of much of the animal's habitat, added to which it was, like so many of the larger European carnivores, relentlessly persecuted for the damage it inflicted on domestic livestock. The Spanish lynx has now been exterminated in most of its range except certain controlled hunting areas, known as "cotos", in the delta of the Guadalquivir in southern Spain. The total population is unknown, but may possibly amount to several hundred, including an estimated 150 to 200 in the Coto Doñana, which is believed to hold the largest remaining population. This region is one of two major areas of unspoiled wetland and wilderness remaining in western Europe, and thus has a significance out of all proportion to its size and extending far beyond the borders of Spain. It is therefore heartening to be able to record that in June 1965 approximately half the Coto Doñana (16,000 out of a total of 32,000 acres) was declared a nature reserve. The title deeds were formally handed over to the Spanish Government by representatives of the World Wildlife Fund, which had accepted the challenging task of raising part of the large sum of money required to secure the area, the rest being contributed by the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas. It is hoped to purchase about 7,500 acres of the Marismas de Hinojos, adjoining the Coto Doñana to the south-east, to forestall the possibility of development and drainage and link up with a further area of reserve, due to be taken over by the Spanish Government, so as to form a single unit. The acquisition of these as areas of nature reserve is a notable advance in the preservation of the Spanish lynx. The animal is still included on the list of verminous animals, for which there is no closed season and which could be killed at sight, but this will no longer be applicable within the new reserve. The problem of devising a wildlife management plan for the reserve has still to be faced, and not the least of the difficulties confronting any attempt to include provision in such a plan for the Spanish lynx is the lack of reliable information on its biology, habits, and requirements. Dr José Valverde, the Director of the Coto Doñana Reserve, proposes to remedy this deficiency by undertaking an ecological study of the animal. (1) The systematics of this hunting cat's races (of which there are or were at least eight) have clearly not been fully worked out, especially as regards the (apparently) nameless population that still inhabits parts of Greece and perhaps also still neighbouring parts of the Balkans. This population, another in the Transylvanian Alps and Carpathian Mountains of Romania and Russia, the extinct population of Italy and Sicily, the Sardinian race, Felis lynx sardiniae (which is almost certainly also extinct), and the Spanish lynx, F.l. pardina, are regarded by some authorities as a species separate from the rest, the pardel or pardine lynx, in build more rangy, in coat almost uniformly spotted, with lozenge-shaped dark brown flecks, and with a more rounded black tail-end than the northern forms, whose rounder spots (on adults) are clearly evident upon their legs alone. It is possible that in the western Carpathians the northern and pardine groups may coexist; if so, the pardine lynx should be regarded as a full species, Felis pardina. Fossil evidence supports this. The Spanish population, Felis lynx pardina, would carry the name Felis pardina pardina if the species status of the pardine lynx be admitted. -- J.F.

Nancy 25-02-1997