Researchers to investigate whether environmental factors may have affected female animal’s pigmentation
An amateur photographer in southern Spain has captured unprecedented images of a white Iberian lynx, prompting researchers to investigate whether environmental factors could be at play as wildlife watchers revelled in the rare sighting.
Ángel Hidalgo published the images on social media, describing the singular animal as the “white ghost of the Mediterranean forest”.
In a post, Hidalgo explained he had first caught a glimpse of the animal in a camera trap he had set up in a wooded area near the city of Jaén. The footage lasted just a few seconds, but it was enough to make out a lynx that appeared to have a white coat and dark spots, rather than the brown and black-spotted colouring usually associated with the species.
“From then on, I started dedicating all of my free time to it,” Hidalgo wrote. “Time passed; hours, days, weeks and even months without success. Many times I was on the verge of giving up.”
