Some great news for lynxes this week, starting with our travelling lynx from last week.

Litio has been successfully recovered and returned to Portugal’s Vale do Guadiana for the third time, after his long trip to the city of Barcelona. We can only speculate as to whether he was following ancient tracks, as Barcelona is where the most ancient lynx – 1.6-1.7 million years old – was found. We hope this time he will stay in Portugal. but only time will tell..

Meanwhile, the Extremadura lynx population has crossed another milestone with the second ‘born free’ generation now confirmed there. Reintroductions only began in 2014 in Spain’s Extremadura region, and it has built up to a total population of 39 lynxes. these lynxes are now being joined by a third generation, one mother has had a record 5 cubs, demonstrating just how great this region is for this species.

And there was sweet news from the captive females at Donana’s El Acebuche centre, where Gitanilla has adopted a fourth cub and is raising it alongside her three cubs after Fauna rejected her sole cub. Technicians at the centre popped the young cub into Gitanilla’s enclosure and waited with baited breath. The cub didn’t have to wait long before Gitanilla collected it and added it to her suckling brood. You can watch the whole drama unfold in the video below.