The Iberian lynx ( Lynx pardinus ) is a species of carnivorous mammal of the Felidae family , endemic to the Iberian Peninsula , internationally known 3 for its recovery after being critically endangered at the beginning of the 21st century .
In 2002, only ninety-four individuals could be counted, of which fifty-eight adults and barely twenty-seven females in a reproductive situation, distributed in two populations, in Andalusia , isolated from each other. 4 After numerous conservation and recovery efforts, in 2013 it was estimated that there were just over three hundred individuals on the increase, 5 plus another in the Montes de Toledo of about fifteen individuals and therefore scarcely viable, which made it the feline species most threatened in the world. 6
In 2021, a population of 1,111 individuals in the wild was estimated, distributed mainly in Andalusia (in the parks of Doñana , Sierra de Andújar , Sierra de Cardeña and Montoro and Sierra de Cazorla ), in Castilla-La Mancha (in the Montes de Toledo ), Extremadura and Portugal ( Guadiana Valley Natural Park ).