A new Iberian lynx dispersion detected Doñana-Portugal

In mid-September, the Iberlince monitoring team in Doñana received a photograph of a lynx obtained on August 15th of this same year by the SELECTPREDATORS Project (ANPC/UA) at a place in the Guadiana Valley Natural Park, (Mértola, Portugal) within the feline’s reintroduction area in the neighbouring Country.

The specimen in question, known as "Nairobi", is a year-and-a-half-old female from the town of Doñana’s eastern nucleus, born in the Puebla del Río municipality (Seville) and sister of "Mundo", a male also located in Portugal last April, and where it was possible to confirm its successful reproduction this season.

Nairobi was last photographed in her mother's territory at the end of May, and detected again two and a half months later in Mértola, a straight line distance of about 150 km. Everything suggests that this family from Doñana has a "traveller gene" that enables these long-distance dispersive movements, which are extremely important for the communication between different populations and greatly increase the long-term viability of the species.

Along with "Nairobi", 4 lynxes are known to have reached Portugal, having departed from Doñana.

Related article: Conexión efectiva entre poblaciones de Lince-ibérico, en Portugal y España (08/05/2017)