There are four lynx species on Earth: Canadian; North American bobcat (the most abundant, with a population of possibly 1.5 million); Eurasian, the largest species, with males in some Asiatic populations weighing as much as 35kg; and the Iberian, the smallest and rarest, with an average weight of 8kg-9kg and which feeds on rabbits and partridges.
Surveys in the 1990s showed that the world population of Iberian lynx, confined now to Spain and Portugal, was fewer than 100 individuals, with most in the Parque Natural de Sierra de Andújar in Andalucía. With enhanced legal protection, public awareness and intensive captive breeding, this has risen to more than 2,000.
