Research overview: Iberian lynx dependence on European rabbits

The Iberian lynx is an extreme dietary specialist, relying on the European rabbit for the great majority of its diet, and this overview reviews the consequences of that dependence. Where rabbits are abundant, lynx thrive, but rabbit populations have been devastated by diseases such as myxomatosis and rabbit hemorrhagic disease, triggering lynx declines. Conservation therefore hinges as much on restoring rabbit numbers, through habitat management, restocking, and disease mitigation, as on protecting the cats themselves. This tight predator-prey coupling makes the lynx exceptionally vulnerable to fluctuations in a single prey species. Understanding it has shaped a recovery strategy in which rabbit management is inseparable from lynx conservation, illustrating how specialist predators inherit the vulnerabilities of their prey.