Date:
October 28, 2015
Source:
FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology
The
remains of an Iberian lynx specimen which lived 1.6 million years ago -- the
oldest ever discovered -- were found resting in a cave in Barcelona (Spain).
This discovery not only allows us to shed light on the origins of one of the
world's most endangered feline species, but it also means that the emergence of
this species on the Iberian Peninsula dates back half a million years earlier
than what was originally believed.
This
newly discovered specimen was 10 to 20 centimetres larger and around 10
kilograms heavier than the Iberian lynx that currently inhabits Doñana National
Park in Spain. Its coat was also longer than it is today in order to withstand
continuous near-freezing temperatures. This description of the feline was
formulated after a study was carried out on one of the first Iberian lynxes
that ever lived in Spain.
Part
of a cranial fossil belonging to an Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) was uncovered among the horse, goat, deer, woolly
mammoth, fox and wolf bones preserved in the Avenc Marcel Cave located in the
Garraf massif of Barcelona. This is the oldest Iberian lynx that has been found
on the Iberian Peninsula to date and it was discovered by the scientist Manel
Llenas in 2003.
The
fossil remains of this feline are proof of its presence on the Iberian Peninsula
as early as 1.6 to 1.7 million years ago. Up until now scientists had dated the
appearance of the Iberian lynx to between 1 and 1.1 million years ago. Thus,
this discovery means that the emergence of this feline on the Iberian Peninsula
actually dates back 500,000 years earlier than what scientists originally
thought.
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