I’ve been woefully neglecting this section of iberianature recently. Here are a couple of recent wildlife stories in the English press.
The Missing Lynx (The Guardian) Good article. “Ten years ago, there were barely 100 Iberian lynx left. But an innovative Spanish conservation programme is rescuing them from the edge of extinction”
The skeletal remains of a 26-pound rabbit was found on an island off the coast of Spain. Dubbed the Minorcan King of the Rabbits, this ancient rabbit lived approximately three to five million years ago and now adds evidence to a curious rule concerning the evolution of animals in islands. The so-called “island rule” states that big animals will get smaller and small animals (such as rabbits) will get bigger when the population is isolated on an island, perhaps due to the lack of mainland predators. In this case, the King is a whopping six-times larger than living European rabbits, but due to a rigid spine and short legs, it was also unable to hop.
Good short summary of the threats facing Doñana by Wildlife Extra here: dredging of the river Guadalquivir, thousands of acres of illegal strawberry farms and paddy fields guzzling up the water and a proposed oil platform. And this is called the jewel of Spain’s national parks.
The road deaths amomg Doñana’s lynxes will hopefully be reduced with the building of four of these ecoducts across the infamous A-494 road, responsible for a unacceptable number of deaths (three just in 2010). The ecoducts are to covered in earth and vegetation. El Mundo
Satellite image of the Strait of Gibraltar from NASA found on Wikipedia.
Algeciras Harbor is the prominent notch cut out of the eastern end of the north shore of the Strait; the Rock of Gibraltar is the tiny arrowhead that separates the notch from the Alboran Sea. The Sierra Nevada, farther away down the Spanish coast, lives up to its name in this April scene. The difference in elevation between the Sierra Morena and the Guadalquivir River valley is highlighted nicely by cumulus clouds. Tangier, Morocco can be seen as a light-toned spot on the southern shore of the Strait, near the entrance to the Atlantic Ocean.
Two pairs of ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) have reproduced in Andalucía (Cádiz and Huelva) for the second year running, thus confirming the recolonization of the species, some fifty years after disappearing from the Peninsula as a nesting bird (and eighty from Spain). It is claimed that the osprey is the first vertebrate top achieve this in centuries but it should be said that they have been helped by a reintroduction scheme involving the release of more than 100 chicks in the last seven years, until finally a released bird joined up with wild bird. The second pair is formed by two wild ospreys of unknown origin. Between the two pairs, four chicks have been raised this year (five were fledged last year) so a round of applause to them and the people involved in the project. Crónica Verde
The seven Iberian lynxes (four females and three males) released in December 2009 in Guadalmellato, Cordoba are breeding successfully. Three cubs have been born to one mother, and two other females are believed to be pregnant.
The seven animals were the first to be released from the lynx captive breeding programme with the aim of establishing new territories across Spain. In this first case, an area close to the main lynx stronghold of Andújar was chosen. To make their adaptation easier, supplementary food in the form of penned rabbits has been provided – the lynxes can get in, but the rabbit can’t get out. The animals have also been fitted with radio-trackers.
The biologists in charge of the project are delighted not only with the news of the cubs, but also because no lynxes have so far died – three to four were expected to do so as they succumbed to the ordeal of adapting to their new territory. One animal has also come into contact with lynxes from Andújar which bodes well that this small population can expand.
Photo of one of the Guadalmellato lynxes on its release: El Mundo
The plan to reintroduce Iberian lynx in the wild is to continue, despite the serious setback posed by the outbreak of a renal disease amongst the captive animals, in a year when only nine cubs were born. The fact that the wild populations in Andalucia are increasingly strong (65 and 165 animals in Doñana and Sierra Morena in, respectively) and the overall success of the captive breeding programme (80 cubs born so far) bodes well for the future, as does the increasing Iberian nature of the programme with the involvement of Castilla-La Mancha, Extredura and Portugal. EFE
The breeding project was dealt a serious blow with the expected death in the next year of twelve lynxes from renal disease. More here Serious blow to lynx breeding project
Bizarre photo of the month goes to the people involved in the bald ibis reintroduction programme, who released six birds this week in the Sierra de Retín (Cádiz), making a total of 24 so far this year, and 215 since the proyecto Eremita began. El País. Note: the hats, in addition to an essential fashion item this summer in Cadiz, are part of the plot to confuse the birds that they have been raised by ibises not humans.
The aim is to reintroduce the bird to areas where it has become extinct and to strengthen existing wild populations in North Africa. The last definite reference to the bald ibis breeding in Spain is from a 15th century falcony book.
BBC documentary of killer whales off the coast of Cadiz attracted by huge tuna captured by the almadraba fishing technique.
From The Natural World – Wild In Spain. Unfortunately it features Micheal Portillo.
The almadraba is an elaborate and age-old Andalusian technique of setting nets in a maze that leads to a central pool called “copo”. The maze uses just two net lines, called “raveras”. One net is connected to the shore and other line is secured in deeper water. Those lines have smaller oblique lines which leads to the central pool. Tunas are not able to see the exit from the central pool and remain inside. This simple maze works because tuna tend to go into the Mediterranean during spring and the beginning of summer. The floor of the central pool is raised in order to catch the tunas and when that floor is up, there is little room for tunas and they are then caught easily and slaughtered. Wikipedia
Killer whales (Orcinus orca) visit the Strait of Gibraltar during the tuna migration season in July and August. At the same time Spanish and Moroccan fishermen fish for yellowfin tuna, using longline fishing technics, they lower their fishing lines, armed with several hooks, vertically to the sea bottom. This fishing procedure is possible only in a limited area, where the depth of sea is only 100 metres. Killer whales, being intelligent animals, found out that it is much easier to take a tuna already caught on a fisherman’s hook, than to race with a fish in all its strength. Fishermen must often be satisfied with no more than the head of a tuna; orcas never eat the head of the fish as it contains a metal hook. This is the most dolphin safe of all methods of tuna fishery.
The killer whale population of the Strait of Gibraltar is only 12 animals (2006). There is a photo-identification catalogue of them. They are rather difficult to observe: they can only be found easily if tuna fishermen are on the sea, and the orcas hang around them. In any other instances, whale-watchers only can come across them by chance.
I’ve just come across the remarkable true story of Marcos Rodríguez Pantoja, a boy who spent 12 years as a boy living with wolves in the Sierra de Cardeña in the Sierra Morena. His story is now being told in a new film entitled Entre lobos to be released in October.
Marcos Rodríguez Pantoja was born on the 7 May 1946, and remembers being taken away at the age of 7 by a man on a reddish horse. He believes he was sold or hired to tend goats, a not unusual arrangement for children of that age. It also wasn’t unusual for goatherds to live up on the mountains with their animals and only visit human habitation every few years.
Marcos Pantoja left on his own
Marcos worked with an old goatherd for possibly several months before the man died, but in that time he’d learnt to fend for himself in the mountains, looking after the herd of goats and ensuring they bred successfully. He made friends with wolves, and lived variously in a cave, an old hut, and a hut that he built himself.
I don’t have time to translate this at the moment but this description in El País of how he befriended the wolves is truly remarkable:
–Yo estaba preparado con el cuchillo. La carne que yo no quería se la llevaba a los lobillos. Los padres no me dejaban, pero como veían que yo les llevaba de comer, cogieron confianza. Yo olía como ellos. Cuando yo quería que vinieran, cuando me veía que no tenía salida, empezaba a aullar. Venían varios lobos y, como se daban cuenta de que estaba perdido, se tiraban a mí dando saltos y me cogían los brazos con la boca hasta que yo reía. Empezaban a jugar. Luego me señalaban el camino hasta la cueva de ellos y, desde allí, yo ya sabía irme. Me divertía yo solo con los animales.
Y se entendía con ellos. Con sus mismos sonidos. En cuanto uno menos se lo espera, Marcos, hoy, coge una hoja del suelo y se la pone en la boca. Pij, pij, pij… El ruido que hace el águila. Y también imita el de la perdiz macho. Y el de la perdiz hembra. Marcos era uno más en la naturaleza. “Dormía con la zorra. La zorra era la primera que se metía debajo de mis piernas cuando había tormenta o llovía”. También vivió un tiempo con una camada de ratones, a los que daba leche de cabra. Y siempre planeaba por allí algún águila, a la que le troceaba los conejos o perdices que atrapaba. “Ponía la presa en un plato de aquellos de corcho y más contentos… Acariciaba a las águilas, las besaba, y se iban más contentas…”. Janer, el antropólogo, analiza estos pasajes: “Marcos no inventa, pero cubre con la imaginación su necesidad de saberse querido por alguien”.
The captive Iberian lynx breeding project has been dealt a serious blow with the expected death in the next year of ten Iberian lynxes from renal disease. Four animals have already died, and 40% of the captive population of 70 have the disease, which has no cure. Breeding pairs have been reduced from 27 to just 9, and so far only 2 cubs have been born, with only ten forecast for the season. Project head Astrid Vargas has affirmed that the deaths will not put a stop to the programme.
This lovely photo of Tabernas Desert in bloom was taken by Andrés Ivorra and posted originally on the forum. He notes:
“An exceptional amount of rainfall looks like snow but it isn’t. Linaria nigricans is in full flower in the desert of Tabernas. A joy for your eyes.”
I’m not sure how much it has rained in Tabernas itself but Andrés informs me that rainfall records have been smashed in Almeria capital this winter with some 400mm falling in just two months.
Browsing through his site I can see it is not only about flora. It is also the best guide in English on the nature and geography of Almeria in general.
Three Iberian lynx have been run over in the last month in Doñana, one of the worst figures for years. The latest animal was a male found dead on the road connecting Matalascañas with El Rocíos. He is thought to have been dispersing in search of new territories. Almost three lynxes a year (26 in total) have been killed since 2000…And three in a single month is an utter disater. Clearly the traffic signs aren’t sufficient. Crónica Verde
If you wish to live and thrive, let the spider run alive Enthroned in a Pitch Trefoil flower, the Heather crab spider (Thomisus onustus) had arrayed its legs like a multi-limbed deity. The colour of raspberry-ripple ice cream, it blended in well with the purple bloom where it meditated, invisible to prey and predator. Enormous […]
Here are a few words and expressions in Castilian Spanish that don’t exist in English, and perhaps could be borrowed. Foreigners speakers of Spanish in Spain certainly use so of them with alarming frequency with other English speakers in Spain, as do our Spanish friends and spouses. The list does not include food terms (covered […]
Here’s my latest article published in the Barcelona Metropolitan 75 years ago, on the evening of 13th February 1937, an Italian cruiser off the coast of Barcelona fired shells at an arms factory on Passeig Sant Joan. They missed their target and 18 people were killed. A month later came the first raid from the […]
The road deaths amomg Doñana’s lynxes will hopefully be reduced with the building of four of these ecoducts across the infamous A-494 road, responsible for a unacceptable number of deaths (three just in 2010). The ecoducts are to covered in earth and vegetation. 
