Babylon Idiomas Resources

Located across three provinces of Andalusia, the Doñana National Park is a huge wetland area and one of Spain’s most important wildlife centres covering a massive area of 1300 sq km. It is Europe’s largest national park and has been declared as a UNESCO biosphere reserve for its important role as a habitat for migratory birds, mammals and amphibians, and contains a wide variety of ecosystems capable of sustaining this huge wildlife community.

Doñana’s allure has not just come to light recently – as early as the 13 th century, the Castilian Kings set aside part of the area as a royal hunting estate. In recent years the increase of land development and farming has threatened to encroach on Donana’s rich ecosystems and the work of pioneering conservationists like Guy Mountford, has helped to educate people about Doñana and how precious a resource it is.

A favourite with ornithologists, the Doñana reserve is home to massive community of migratory birds. The location of the site on the main migration routes between Europe and Africa means that as many as 250 species can be found in the reserve each year including flamingos, vultures and spoonbills to name but a few. The park is also home to one of the world’s largest colonies of the Spanish Imperial Eagle with 20 pairs of the majestic birds thought to reside in the reserve. The best times for birdwatchers are considered to be between the spring and autumn months but during the winter period the reserve is also home to vast flocks of wildfowl, geese and ducks that arrive in Doñana thanks to the autumn rains and the high water levels.

At the onset of spring, so the waters begin to recede slightly and thousands upon thousands of birds fly in to breed or recoup for the long journey ahead, from the Spoonbill’s arriving from North Africa, to the magnificently coloured Bee-eaters. The summer months see the wetlands begin to dry and many of the spring visitors depart with temperatures hitting 40 degrees Celsius leaving the way clear for the summer residents. Amongst the numerous species on display are Griffon Vultures, Booted Eagles, Red-necked Nightjars and the fantastically coloured Hoopoe.

The Doñana National Park is not only home to birds though, there is also a fairly large population of mammals; the most famous of which being the highly endangered Iberian Lynx (in fact the closest to extinction of all the big cat species). Donana is one of only two places where there is thought to be a breeding community of these nocturnal hunters. Other species that call the park home are the rare Egyptian mongoose as well as badgers, otters, rabbits and wild boar.

However it hasn’t all been plain sailing for National Park – the ever growing tourist industry threatens to encroach and also creates with it a greater demand for water. The WWF have already highlighted that in 20 years tourism could literally dry up many of Europe’s remaining wetland areas. But by far the most serious incident occurred in 1998 when a multinational mining firm released millions of litres of toxic sludge, containing traces of heavy metals, into the Guadimar River. Thousands of fish and birds were killed by what was Spain’s greatest environmental disaster and only huge relief effort by the Spanish government and the EU stopped the water spilling into the Doñana area.

Emergency dykes were built and thousands on tons of sludge was removed in an attempt to keep Doñana contamination free – for many the incident displayed just how fragile the area is and how steps must be taken to safeguard it and equally how important it is to make sure that species like the Imperial Eagle and the Iberian Lynx are not driven to extinction. Although access to the area is restricted there are still numerous visitors’ centres as well as excellent facilities for birdwatchers, but it shouldn’t just be ornithologists who take something amazing from Doñana, it should be a inspiration to us all.

Of the 32 remaining species of big cat left in the world, the Iberian Lynx is the most endangered, even more so than the Siberian tiger. Western Europe’s last remaining big cat is in serious trouble, recent estimations place the number of lynx’s remaining at just over 100 and biologists maintain that if drastic action isn’t taken soon then the species will be extinct by the end of the decade – if this happens then it’ll be the first species of bit cat to be made extinct since the Sabre-toothed tiger died out about 10,000 years ago.

The question as to why the number of lynx’s in Spain has plummeted to such an alarming level is down to a confluence of a number of factors. The modernization of Spain and Portugal since the 50’s and 60’s has seen vast areas of the lynx’s natural habitat destroyed. Once abundant on the Iberian Peninsula, the animal can now only be found in two breeding areas in Andalusia.

Another reason we can look to is the simple lack of enough food to sustain the lynx population. Feeding almost solely on rabbit means the two animal’s destinies are inextricably tied to each other. Diseases such as Myxamatosis hammered European rabbit populations in the 50’s and 60’s with as many as 80-90% of adult rabbits being killed in Spain – with the decline of Spain’s rabbit population it follows that the number of lynx would also be hit; an average sized adult Lynx requires about one rabbit per day in order to survive. It’s also fair to say that it gets harder for the species to coexist with man; illegal hunting and trapping still takes place but the biggest killer of all is road accidents, where lynx are hit and killed by cars. In the Doñana nature reserve in Andalusia it is thought that 80% of Iberian Lynx’s killed, die in this way and the proliferation of roads throughout these areas continue to be a huge threat to the species.

For many this begs the question what is to be done to reverse the trend that has seen numbers fall from 1000 a decade ago to the figure we see today? The obvious and most easy solution is basically to educate people about the plight of this solitary creature – not as high profile or well known as the less endangered Siberian Tiger, fewer people are aware of the critical situation facing west Europe’s last big cat species. However this appears to be changing with pressure coming from groups like the WWF and also activities of football club owner Corrado Correggi whose Algarve United club are nicknamed the Lynx’s and also donate 10% of all gate receipts and membership fees to Lynx conservation.

In his excellent article “Iberian Lynx: the last chance”, Carlos Sanz points towards the protection of habitat and preservation of food supply as key to saving the species: “Vegetation needs to be regenerated, and preventing the destruction of the Mediterranean shrub land is paramount, because it’s not only the ideal habitat for the lynx but also for it’s main prey, the rabbit”.

The simple equation is if there are more rabbits then there’s more food for the Lynx and numbers will increase. There are already programmes in place to replenish the rabbit population with healthy, disease-free rabbits being bred in captivity and released into lynx territory.

At the moment due to the isolated nature of the breeding communities there’s a greater chance of inbreeding – this only serves to weaken the species by narrowing its genetic code, making them more susceptible to disease and defects. One way to avoid this is to breed more captive lynxes and earlier this year three lynx cubs were successfully born at a programme set up in the Doñana reserve. There’s certainly hope that this majestic animals can be saved from extinction but there’s still a lot of work to be done with regards habitat and their food supply before these creatures are safe – for western Europe’s last big cat, the struggle is just beginning.