The names of the new lynxes of Mértola

The release of new lynx specimens in the municipality of Mértola continues this week, with the release of the female Naira and the male Noctulo, on February 22, animals from the Center for Reproduction in the Captivity of Zarza de Granadilla, the Junta de Extremadura, in Spain

These young animals will join other lynxes that constitute the new population nucleus of the species in Portugal. In addition to the 12 subadults and adults with territory already established, there are also 5 lynxes born in the last spring, the first known pups born in the natural environment in Portugal in this century. Two females and two males, already identified by the technicians through photo-trapping, all belong to the same litter, and are descendants of Lagunilla, the progenitor who arrived in the Guadiana Valley in 2015. It is now necessary to give them names, to more easily recognize all Animals monitored in nature. To this end, the ICNF stimulated a vote of names beginning with the letter "N", distributing ballot papers to schools, the Town Hall and Town Councils of the municipality of Mértola, by local agents of the agricultural sector and linked to tourism, similar to the Which was carried out in previous years, from the beginning of the reintroduction process.

Nógado, the most voted name by the Mertolenses and the choice of the children of the preschool of Mértola, will be one of the males of the litter of the Lagunilla, that has an intermediate type coat (black and fine thin meshes) and that at the moment it is independent and it shares the space Of the male Luso, potentially its progenitor.

Navarro, the name of a municipality in the municipality of Mértola, was the most voted by the local population as a whole and by the ICNF staff involved in the project "Recovery of the Historical Distribution of the Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) in Spain and Portugal (LIFE + NAT / ES / 000570 - Life+IBERLINCE) and will also be attributed to one of the descendants of Lagunilla, who remains still in the territory of this parent.

The participants in the voting of Mértola also chose the name Neblina, by which one of the female lynx of this litter will be known, and that already exhibited exploratory movements outside the territory that shared with the progenitor and with the brothers.

Among the female names, Nuvem was the second name that gathered consensus in the vote and will name the second female of this brood of 2016.

There is also a fifth young lynx, born in S. João dos Caldeireiros, to whom the ICNF follow-up team called "Nossa", as a symbol of a new natural heritage of the county and Portuguese. This female was observed with Jacaranda and Kathmandu, demonstrating the ability of lynx to maintain stability in the choice of partners and exhibiting behavior of familiar recognition and harmonious coexistence.

The release of this Wednesday is only possible thanks to the availability of the owners in whose estate are opened the boxes with the two animals. The process is also the result of collaboration between teams from captive breeding and field monitoring centers, as well as entities such as the Food and Veterinary Directorate General that collaborate in the transport and marking of animals between Portugal and Spain.

During 2017 another 4 captive-born lynxes will be released, joining the remaining 9 with names beginning with "N". Some will be able to disperse until establishing territory, the females will become adults in two years and they will be able to reproduce, whenever conditions such as the tranquility and high abundance of wild rabbit remain.

These actions are part of the Life+IBERLINCE project, co-financed by the European Commission, which brings together Portuguese and Spanish partners with the aim of promoting the return of the Iberian lynx to many territories of the Iberian Peninsula, where it disappeared.