AN IBERIAN lynx cub has been born for the first time in the Doñana National Park through a controlled breeding programme attempting to revive the population of this near-extinct wild cat.
Adelfa, the oldest female lynx in the conservation scheme, gave birth six days ago, but breeders did not want to break the news until now until they were sure mother and baby were doing well.
The cub was born at around midday in the breeding centre in El Acebuche (Huelva province) which supplied the above photograph, and the birth was said to be problem-free.
According to the National Parks Regional Organisation (OPAN), the first Iberian lynxes of 2017 were born in the Zarza de Granadilla nature reserve in the province of Cáceres, Extremadura, about a week before the one in the Doñana came into the world.
Carers have had to keep a close eye on all the new mums, since first-time Iberian lynx mothers often abandon their newborns.
A total of 23 opposite-sex breeding pairs are being cared for in Andalucía, Extremadura, Castilla-La Mancha and over the border in Portugal, and the animals are kept in conditions very close to those of their natural environments.
