Ex-situ Conservation Program of the Iberian Lynx / Wikimedia
Baby Iberian Lynx
Scientists have managed to produce embryos from eggs collected from females that died in road accidents and semen from samples cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen. It is a historic landmark.
If the recent news that national monitoring of the Iberian lynx registered record numbers, other encouraging news for the conservation of this emblematic feline arrived at practically the same time.
A team of Spanish researchers managed to create Iberian lynx embryos in the laboratory through in vitro fertilization (IVF).
The endangered species thus gains another decisive weapon to face possible extinction, as it has inherited genetic fragility from decades of decline. But the Iberian lynx (Lynx panther) is today one of the most cited examples of successful recovery in European conservation, points out .
About 20 years ago, the species was actually on the verge of disappearancewith only about a hundred individuals. Since then, a concerted effort of public policies, breeding programs, reintroductions and monitoring has managed to reverse the trend. Currently, thanks to ongoing work on habitat protection, prey management and threat reduction, it is estimated that there are around 2,000 lynxes in Spain and around 350 in Portugal.
But population growth alone does not solve a silent, structural problem: limited genetic diversity. When a population goes through an extreme “bottleneck” as happened with the Iberian lynx, the majority of surviving individuals share a high degree of kinship. This genetic proximity increases the risk of inbreedingwhich can translate into less robustness, greater vulnerability to diseases and reproductive problems. For a species that, despite progress, still depends on careful management, this factor can affect long-term sustainability.
This is where the new scientific framework comes in. The investigation, conducted by experts from the National Museum of Natural Sciences (MNCN), the Superior Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) and the Veterinary Faculty of the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), managed to produce embryos from eggs collected from females that died in road accidents and semen from samples cryopreserved in liquid nitrogenstored in biobanks created precisely to maintain a genetic “reserve” of the species.
The advance allows animals that never reproduced (due to premature death, behavior incompatible with mating in captivity or other limitations) to contribute genetically to future generations.
From a risk management perspective, the existence of preserved embryos and semen also works as a type of “biological insurance” in case a catastrophic event (an epidemic or an abrupt loss of habitat) affects a significant part of the population.
Despite everything, the technique still faces challenges. The next, crucial step, is to be able to transfer these embryos to recipient females and carry the pregnancy to term.
To researcher Ana Muñoz Macedalead author of the study in Theriogenology Wild, emphasizes that it is now necessary to “develop methods to transfer these embryos to recipient females, which will undoubtedly contribute to increasing the genetic diversity of this species”.
Obtaining viable eggs is considered one of the most complex phases of the process. The study indicates that the time of year influences the success of the technique: the best results came when the eggs were collected in autumn and winter, coinciding with the lynx’s natural reproductive cycle. Still, the success rate is lower than that obtained in domestic cats, which are often used as a comparative model.
