Trail cameras, also known as camera traps, have proven themselves an essential tool in wildlife conservation over the last 20 years, as the technology has become better and cheaper.
Now, the best trail cameras have done it again, and provided scientists and researchers with essential information they needed in the fight to save the Iberian lynx.
An incredibly rare sight, the Iberian lynx is just short of 39 inches in length, and 18 inches in height, however, there are now more than 2,000 in the wild across Spain and Portugal – so they’ve become a much more common sight than 20 years ago.
At its lowest number, there were fewer than 100 lynxes left in the two countries, and the different populations did not interact, and only 25 of them were females of a reproductive age.
"The Iberian lynx was very, very close to extinction," says Rodrigo Serra, who runs the reproduction programme across Spain and Portugal.
"The only feline species that was threatened at this level was the sabre tooth tiger thousands of years ago,” he added.
The lynx were extinct in Portugal by 2005, but it was also the year that Spain saw its first litter born in captivity.
Pedro Sarmento is the man responsible for reintroducing the lynx in Portugal, and has studied the Iberian lynx for 30 years.
He said he saw the lynx disappearing, however, “It's surreal that we're in a place where we can see lynxes in nature or through camera trapping almost daily."
With this great success, also comes challenges as the lynx numbers continue to climb. Lynxes are often released onto private land in Portugal, which means the reproduction programme needs to reach an agreement with the owners first.
The released lynxes go wherever they want, and sometimes attack chicken coops, “which can lead to uneasiness with the locals,” says Sarmento, who combats this by monitoring the cats with trail cameras and radio collars, and scaring them off if need be.
Trail cameras have been used to great success when it comes to conservation, even in recent months. A recent study argued that trail cameras are sorely missed in the areas that need them most, and in 2025, trail cameras proved essential tool for protecting jaguars in Ecuador.
Three decades after Spain decided to save the lynx the wild cats are no longer endangered, and Sarmento hopes that by 2035 their numbers will be between 5,000 and 6,000 in the wild, and the species will be out of immediate danger.
Interested in catching some wildlife footage or images? Why not check out our guides to the best trail cameras, the best cheap drones, and the best camera for wildlife photography.
