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Sergio Marijuán

A young lynx, photographed by camera trap at the abandoned farm, looks into the barn. Juveniles eight to 23 months old establish their own territory, with males often traveling nearly 20 miles away from their birthplace.

When a virus wiped out most of the region’s rabbits in the 1990s, lynx numbers dropped sharply. Today conservationists capture rabbits in places they’re not wanted, such as at this vineyard near Sierra de Andújar park, and take them to lynx habitats where rabbit populations are low. This strategy of supplementing rabbit numbers in lynx habitat builds a robust source of prey in the event of another virus outbreak.

A radio-collared lynx named Milvus easily leaps a fence into a rabbit research area run by WWF Spain in eastern Sierra Morena. Staff later fortified the fence with electricity to block Milvus—and other “cheeky” lynx, as photographer Sergio Marijuán describes them. An adult lynx needs to eat a rabbit a day to survive; a mother with kittens needs three.

Alfonso Moreno Vega, a technician with WWF Spain, a project partner, holds up an antenna to search for the signal of a lynx’s radio collar in eastern Sierra Morena. The scientists track the daily movements of about 140 lynx, vital data that have helped determine where to create new corridors between lynx populations.

At an abandoned farm, kittens play with the remains of a rabbit while their mother, Odrina (at far right), watches. Scientists name most of the babies after Spanish nature and folklore. Odrina—whose name refers to a traditional leather bag that holds wine or oil—was born here in 2017 and has returned to raise her own kittens, an example of the species’ ability to capitalize on humanmade environments.

An Iberian lynx gets a final health check by scientists at Zarza de Granadilla, a breeding center in the Spanish province of Cáceres, before being released into the wild. Captive-bred lynx have thrived in the wild, easily adapting to natural and suburban landscapes alike.

Wildlife underpasses, such as this one below a highway connecting Andalusia with Madrid, help lynx move through their territory safely. They have surprised researchers by learning to live near people, such as in neighborhoods and commercial olive groves—mostly by staying out of sight.

A lynx emerges from the trees in Sierra de Andújar Natural Park, a species stronghold in southern Spain. Fondly dubbed the Iberian jewel, lynx live in five isolated populations across the Iberian Peninsula’s Mediterranean scrublands.