In 2002, fewer than 100 Iberian lynx were counted in the wild. The short-tailed, tufted-eared cat lives only on the Iberian Peninsula, and it was close to being gone.
On June 5, 2026, Spain’s Ministry for Ecological Transition released the 2025 census. It counted 2,663 lynx, the highest number since coordinated monitoring began.
Nearly double in four years
The 2025 total is 10.9 percent higher than 2024’s count of 2,401, and about 95 percent higher than the 1,365 lynx recorded in 2021. Spain’s ministry describes that as an average annual growth rate of 24 percent over the last four years.
Spain accounts for 2,269 of the animals and Portugal for 394. Within Spain, Castilla-La Mancha holds the most, with 1,051, followed by Andalusia with 885. Lynx were also recorded in Extremadura, Murcia, Castilla y León, where a reintroduction project has begun in Palencia’s Cerrato region, and one animal settled in the Community of Madrid.
Breeding is the number conservationists watch most closely. There were 542 territorial or breeding females in 2025, 72 more than the year before, and 952 cubs were born. The cats now live in 26 separate areas and bred in 18 of them.
Spain’s minister for ecological transition, Sara Aagesen, called them “cifras extraordinarias,” or extraordinary figures. Portugal’s environment minister, Maria da Graça Carvalho, told The Portugal News that the recovery of the Iberian lynx is “one of the greatest success stories of nature conservation in Europe.”
The road problem
The census comes with a warning. In 2025, 273 lynx deaths were recorded, and 212 of them, about 78 percent, were animals hit on roads. The ministry says reducing that toll through better habitat connections is a priority.
The ministry also notes that as the population grows it becomes harder to identify every animal individually, so the 2025 figure should be read as a minimum.
Sources
- Fundación Biodiversidad / MITECO, The Iberian lynx population reached 2,663 specimens in 2025 (June 5, 2026)
- El Debate, El lince ibérico sigue recuperándose y aumentó hasta los 2.663 ejemplares en 2025 (June 5, 2026)
- The Portugal News, Iberian Lynx population grew by 95% (June 8, 2026)
