iStockphoto / Jens Otte
History has been made in Spain after a ‘mythical’ animal was spotted for the first time. An all-white Iberian lynx, a leucistic Iberian lynx, was spotted in Jaén, Spain by photographer Angel Hidalgo.
To say that this beautiful big cat looks like a mythical creature is an understatement. I am fairly certain I have seen countless iterations of creatures looking like this in cartoons over the years. It looks like a real-life Pokémon, if we are being honest.
All White Lynx Spotted In Spain For First Time
Images and videos of the white Iberian lynx have been circulating after it was spotted on October 22nd in Jaén, Spain, in a region renowned for producing some of Europe’s finest olive oil.
It should be noted that this is not the first time an all-white Iberian lynx has existed in Europe. There have been whispers of these legendary cats for centuries if not millennia. But this marks the first time one has actually been documented in the wild and it appears to be fully grown.
The Iberian Lynx
There are distinct extant species of lynx still roaming the planet: the bobcat, Eurasian lynx, Canada lynx, and Iberian lynx. Most of us in America are well acquainted with the bobcat but not the others.
The Iberian Lynx can be found across the Iberian Peninsula of Spain and Portugal but it is rarely seen. Populations have declined over the centuries due to overhunting, poaching, and deforestation. Their population numbers have dwindled to the point that Iberian lynx are listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.
As recently as 2012, their estimated population numbers dwindled as low as 326. But in the past decade there has been a movement to revive the species and in 2024 the population estimate had reached 2,021.
Not only is this the first time an all-white Iberian lynx has been spotted in Spain. This marks the first time ever an all-white Iberian lynx has been documented, according to Euro News.
You can see images and videos of the newly documented big cat here on Threads.