Research overview: Iberian lynx monitoring and recovery surveys

The Iberian lynx, once the world's most endangered cat, has been the focus of an intensive recovery program in which camera trapping plays a central monitoring role. This overview surveys how camera traps, alongside telemetry and genetics, track the species' abundance, distribution, reproduction, and reintroduction success across fragmented Mediterranean scrubland in Spain and Portugal. It discusses individual identification from the lynx's distinctive spotted coat, the use of capture-recapture and occupancy to monitor expanding populations, and the integration of camera data into adaptive management of one of conservation's signal successes. The overview highlights how sustained, rigorous camera-based monitoring documented the lynx's rebound from near-extinction, demonstrating the role of standardized surveys in measuring recovery and guiding decisions about translocations, habitat restoration, and prey management.