2019-06-07 22:44:14
In the south of Spain one of the most extraordinary and rare cats in the world survives in freedom. The “Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus)” is an animal whose existence speaks of the bad and the good of the human being in the face of nature. The bad because over the centuries it has destroyed its natural habitat, it has competed with it for its food source, the rabbit, and it has persecuted it until it was placed in critical danger of extinction at the beginning of this millennium. On the other hand, the same human being who was persecuting him admired his qualities to the point of appropriating some of them by saying that such a person has “lynx eyesight” or that other is clever and intelligent, “a lynx for business.” ” or for any other activity.
The Iberian Lynx is one of the most beautiful creatures in nature. It is the size of a medium-sized dog, with a short tail, mottled fur, a round face with long sideburns, and huge greenish or brown eyes fringed by vertical pupils, all topped with pointed ears ending in two conspicuous brushes of hair.
It is sad to think that the Iberian lynx was in critical danger of extinction in 2002. It was that year when it was learned that there were barely 100 individuals left in the wild; the last 100 free specimens of that species on the entire planet. Those few specimens were distributed in two populations, isolated from each other, in Andalusia, in the south of the Iberian Peninsula. Separated 240 kilometers, the two populations had remained without any contact for more than two centuries. The data was so dramatic that the Iberian lynx received the little comforting title of being the most endangered feline species on the planet. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)” recognized this by including it on the list of critically endangered species in 2002 and 2008.
However, this discovery had its positive side because it awakened the consciences of many and revealed all the good that human beings can do when they fight for a noble cause and put scientific knowledge and the necessary means at its service. A series of protection projects, captive breeding and return to the natural environment have allowed the Iberian lynx population to increase in the wild and is returning to places from which it had disappeared, moving away, hopefully forever, the dark clouds of extinction. Currently there are more than 700 specimens in the wild spread over different towns in Andalusia, Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura and Portugal. In 2015 the IUCN lowered the threat level of the Iberian lynx, it went from “critically endangered” to “endangered”, an important change that, if the current evolution continues, will allow it to be considered only “vulnerable” in the next decade.
Reversing the path of extinction, when there are very few specimens of a species left, is not without its dangers. Small populations usually bring with them problems of consanguinity and loss of genetic wealth, some problems that can lead to their disappearance, for this reason we must try to avoid genetic deterioration with all the weapons that science puts in our hands. An article recently published in The Genetics Society magazinesigned by Daniel Kleinman-Ruiz and our guest in Speaking with Scientists, José Antonio Godoy, evaluates the genetics of the Iberian Lynx within the conservation program.
During the interview, José Antonio Godoy tells how the opportune choice of specimens from the two residual groups of Iberian lynx existing in 2002 and the program for transferring specimens from one area to another, as well as an exquisite captive breeding program it has made it possible to avoid consanguinity problems and has achieved a greater genetic diversity among the descendants.
I invite you to listen to Jose Antonio Godoy is a researcher in the Department of Integrative Ecology, Doñana Biological Station and teacher at the Pablo de Olavide University of Sevilla.
Reference:
Kleinman-Ruiz et al. Genetic evaluation of the Iberian lynx ex situ conservation
programme The Genetics Society (2019)
#Cienciaes.com #Survival #genetics #Iberian #lynx #spoke #José #Antonio #Godoy