The Doñana-Vale do Guadiana connection is a fact

In May 2013, an Iberian lynx was photographed in the Portuguese town of Vila Nova de Milfontes, on the Vincentian coast. It was the male known as "Hongo", born in the town of Doñana to more than 250km in a straight line of the Portuguese municipality.

On May 5, 2016, an Iberian lynx with poor physical condition was captured for sanitary check-up at a farm in Gibraleón (Huelva). It was the male "Litio", released a year earlier in the Portuguese town of Mértola, in the reintroduction area of the Guadiana Valley.

On the last April 6, 2017, it has happened again. A trap camera located on the banks of the Guadiana in the Portuguese Baixo Alentejo has photographed the passage of an Iberian lynx unknown in the new Portuguese population. It was "Mundo", a male from Doñana born in the Sevillian municipality of La Puebla del Río.

The less than 100km in a straight line separating the lynx populations of Doñana and Vale do Guadiana do not seem to be an insurmountable obstacle for the species, and there are already 3 displacements detected in the last 4 years. It is expected that the frequency of these dispersions will increase, since the Portuguese population is in the process of formation and growth; And on the other hand, the road must already be marked, the "smell route" between both places has already been created by these first traveler lynxes, facilitating their location to future dispersants.

The connectivity of these two areas of presence proves to be a very gratifying surprise for the management of the species, since it can generate a natural and reciprocal genetic reinforcement for the two populations.