Ejercicio Option 2 - Question 2 · Inglés PAU Cantabria Ordinaria 2021

The Lynx Iberian Cat Comes Back from the Brink of Extinction

A 20-year project to reintroduce the lynx, the indigenous species of wild cat, across the Iberian Peninsula has already seen their numbers increase from 94 in 2002 to 855 this year. Experts say that if the current conservation and reintroduction efforts continue, the species could be out of danger by 2040. The 2019 census revealed that more than 80 % of the lynx population is in Spain, that 311 kittens were born on the peninsula last year and that there were 188 females of reproductive age.

Government efforts to get rid of creatures considered to be pests, which lasted until the mid-1970s, took a terrible toll, as did a catastrophic drop in rabbit numbers due to various diseases. This affected the lynx as the rabbit makes up an important part of its diet. Those factors were compounded by the destruction of habitats that came with motorways and a greater human presence.

Miguel Ángel Simón, a biologist who has worked on the project since its commencement remembers the difficulties he and his colleagues faced. “When we started back in 2000, we didn’t even know how many lynxes were left,” he says. “We found out from the first census that there were 94 and we thought that they were going to disappear. Back then, they were the most endangered felines in the world. Our first aim was just to stop them becoming extinct,” Simón insists.

Their strategy of seeking money and help from politicians, landowners and the public, gradually paid off. A series of projects, coordinated by the Spanish regional governments, the Portuguese authorities and conservation NGOs, has arrested the decline, expanded populations and seen lynxes reintroduced to other areas. “Today, the situation is pretty good and I think we can be optimistic because we haven’t just recovered the population in Spain, we’ve also built populations in Portugal – where the lynx was extinct”.

Ramón Pérez de Ayala from the WWF Spain explains that protecting the lynx is a moral and ecological imperative. “Every species has an intrinsic value that can’t be lost. And you’re talking about an animal that does a really good job of balancing out the food chain of the Mediterranean ecosystem.” But, he adds a further reason: “On a more emotional level, the lynx is a jewel and a thing of beauty to behold.”

WWF - World Wildlife Fund

NGOs - Non-Governmental organizations.

25 Oct 2020, The Guardian (Adapted)

Question 2: [2 POINTS] Choose and answer only TWO of the following questions in your own words according to the text.

a)

How has the Iberian Lynx population changed over the last 20 years?

b)

Apart from their number, what other specific things does the text tell us about the Lynx?

c)

What different factors brought the Iberian Lynx close to extinction 20 years ago?