Urgent action needed as DNA tests show their genetic diversity is so low they could vanish from the country in 30 years.
Conservationists warn that a big cat population in Europe is destined to collapse unless immediate efforts are made to protect the animals.
Researchers estimate there are 120 to 150 adult lynxes in France. Tests on the animals show that the cats’ genetic diversity is so low they will become locally extinct within the next 30 years unless there is urgent intervention.
Historically lynxes have ranged across the expanse of Eurasia, but the elusive animals have come under intense pressure in many countries from habitat loss, inbreeding, poaching, and traffic collisions.
In the 18th century, lynxes vanished from France entirely. After a re-introduction project in Switzerland in the 1970s some Eurasian lynxes moved across the border to France and re-established themselves in the Jura mountains. But the population failed to reach sufficient numbers to make it stable.
Scientists at the Centre Athenas, a wildlife protection centre in eastern France, collected 88 DNA samples from injured, dead, or orphaned lynxes between 2008 and 2020 and were able to analyse 78 to form a picture of the population’s genetic health. To avoid distress to the animals the team did not obtain samples from healthy wild lynxes.
https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.amp...-extinction-population-150-adults-at-most-aoe
Conservationists warn that a big cat population in Europe is destined to collapse unless immediate efforts are made to protect the animals.
Researchers estimate there are 120 to 150 adult lynxes in France. Tests on the animals show that the cats’ genetic diversity is so low they will become locally extinct within the next 30 years unless there is urgent intervention.
Historically lynxes have ranged across the expanse of Eurasia, but the elusive animals have come under intense pressure in many countries from habitat loss, inbreeding, poaching, and traffic collisions.
In the 18th century, lynxes vanished from France entirely. After a re-introduction project in Switzerland in the 1970s some Eurasian lynxes moved across the border to France and re-established themselves in the Jura mountains. But the population failed to reach sufficient numbers to make it stable.
Scientists at the Centre Athenas, a wildlife protection centre in eastern France, collected 88 DNA samples from injured, dead, or orphaned lynxes between 2008 and 2020 and were able to analyse 78 to form a picture of the population’s genetic health. To avoid distress to the animals the team did not obtain samples from healthy wild lynxes.
https://amp-theguardian-com.cdn.amp...-extinction-population-150-adults-at-most-aoe
