The large mammal situation
As 2019 gets under way, I thought it would be a good idea to update readers on the situation regarding mammals – especially the larger, carnivorous ones - in Spain.
The first one that comes to mind is the world’s rarest feline, the Iberian Lynx. Here the situation is cautiously encouraging. With the benefit of much reintroduction and protection, the population has risen from a critical low of 94 animals, in 15 years to 589 individuals counted recently. Road deaths are still a huge problem for this emblematic and often nocturnal cat.
The Brown Bear is by far the scarcest of the large carnivores in Spain, represented by two sub-populations, with around 250 individuals centred on Asturias, and 40 or so in Cantabria, with a few more around the French border on the Pyrenees.
A serious problem here is the lack of contact between the main populations, which tends to ‘stagnate’ the gene pool – never good news for rare creatures.
Wolves are faring a little better, though they do have to cope with age-old prejudices and fears (Who’s afraid of the Big Bad Wolf ? etc.)
A little more widespread than the bears, however, the Wolf has been secretive enough to maintain viable populations in Castilla y Leon, just edging into Castilla-la Mancha and Madrid, and northwards into Cantabria, Galicia and Asturias.
Such a nocturnal creature presents enormous difficulties when it comes to a population census – very often, the only evidence of presence of Wolves comes from remote-controlled photography, but a recent estimate of some 2,800 individuals seems likely to be accurate.