Habitat[edit]
A study of mitochondrial DNA from fossil remains, published in March 2015, suggests the Iberian lynx had a wider range during the Late Pleistocene and Holocene, including northern Italy and southern France.[29] The species was distributed over the entire Iberian Peninsula as recently as the mid-19th century. In the 1950s it was divided between a northern population, running from Galicia and parts of northern Portugal and extending to the Mediterranean, and a southern population, in various parts of Spain.[30] It is now restricted to very limited areas of southern Spain,[31] with breeding only confirmed in two areas of Andalucía. The Iberian lynx prefers heterogeneous environments of open grassland mixed with dense shrubs such as strawberry tree, mastic, and juniper, and trees such as holm oak and cork oak. It is now largely restricted to mountainous areas.
Conservation[edit]