Iberian lynx has made a remarkable recovery from brink of extinction

Things aren’t looking too great for the Iberian lynx.

Just over twenty years ago, the pointy-eared wild cat was on the verge of extinction. However, as of Thursday, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) announced that it is no longer considered an endangered species.

Thanks to successful conservation efforts, the Iberian lynx, native to Spain and Portugal, is now classified as merely vulnerable, according to the latest update of the IUCN Red List.

In 2001, there were only 62 mature Iberian lynxes—medium-sized, mottled brown cats with distinctive pointed ears and a pair of beard-like tufts of facial hair—left on the Iberian Peninsula. The decline of the species was closely tied to the reduction of its main prey, the European rabbit, as well as habitat degradation and human activities.

Read More: (https://theleadersglobe.com/science-technology/the-iberian-lynx-has-made-a-remarkable-recovery-from-the-brink-of-extinction-heres-how-it-was-achieved/)