Iberian lynx

A wild female Iberian lynx stands alert on open ground near Almuradiel, Ciudad Real, Spain, in December 2021. Its coat is boldly spotted, and adults grow a pronounced facial ruff that hangs like a beard. It lives only in Spain and Portugal and eats mainly wild rabbits. In 2002 just two populations were left, with fewer than 50 adults between them; years of breeding and release work have brought it back to well over a thousand animals.