The jungle cat (Felis chaus), also called the swamp lynx (although not closely related to the lynxes), is a medium-small cat, but is now considered the largest remaining species of the wild cat genus Felis. It averages 70 cm (28 in), plus a relatively short 20 cm (8 in) tail, and stands about 36 cm (14 in) tall. Weight varies across the range from 4 to 16 kg (8.8 to 35 lbs), though exceptionally heavy specimens have also been reported. Dependent on the subspecies the colour of the fur is yellowish-grey to reddish-brown. While vertical bars are visible on the fur of kittens, these bars disappear in adult cats. Due to the pointed ears and the long legs this cat resembles a small lynx (hence the name "swamp lynx").

This cat is distributed over Egypt, West and Central Asia, South Asia, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asia. It inhabits various habitats, for instance savannas, tropical dry forests and the reedbeds along rivers and lakes, but it is not found in rainforests. In some areas the jungle cat comes close to villages and may even live in deserted houses. The jungle cat lives in heights up to 2500 m, but is more common in the lowlands.

Jungle cats hunt in the daytime for rodents, frogs and birds. Those cats living close to bodies of water are able to swim and dive in order to catch fish.

This species has been hybridized with the domestic cat, producing the "chausie" breed, as well as the "jungle bob" breed.

During mating season, the male "barks", sounding like a large dog.^[3] In captivity, males have been observed to be very protective of their offspring, more than the females of their own species, or males of other cat species.

 Subspecies

• Felis chaus chaus, South-east Turkey, large parts of Caucasus, North-west Jordan, Southern Lebanon, Syria, Israel, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Southwestern Russia and most of Central Asia
• Felis chaus affinis, Kashmir to Sikkim, Nepal, Bhutan, Yunnan and North-west Indochina
• Felis chaus fulvidina, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam
• Felis chaus furax
• Felis chaus kelaarti, Sri Lanka
• Felis chaus kutas, western India, Pakistan
• Felis chaus maimanah
• Felis chaus nilotica, Northern Nile valley, Egypt
• Felis chaus oxiana
• Felis chaus prateri, western India

Status

This species is often assessed as being in no danger and has therefore been ignored as a rare species. In fact, in recent years a clearer picture has showed that this species could well be among the rarest of the small cats in Asia, and definitely the rarest one for which there is no protection within most of its current distribution. The species is assumed to be rare in its marginally African range. It is also assumed to be rather rare throughout the Middle East, where it is heavily hunted and poisoned (the only recent records from Jordan is of poisoned animals) and it is likely that this species is scarce in most parts of the Middle East. The species is assumed to be quite common in the Caucasus, although it is heavily hunted there for its fur.

Felis chaus

El gato selvático, de la jungla o de los pantanos (Felis chaus) es un felino característico de las tierras bajas y húmedas del sur de Asia, desde el Mediterráneo oriental a Indochina y Malaca. Su área de distribución se prolonga hacia el norte en Asia Central, siguiendo el litoral del Mar Caspio y los cursos de grandes ríos como el Amu Daria y el Sir Daria. Alcanza de refilón la Rusia europea en la desembocadura del Volga y África en el Delta del Nilo.

Aspecto físico

Por su aspecto, el gato de los pantanos recuerda a un [gato doméstico]de pelaje rojizo, con orejas ligeramente más largas y dotadas de pincel en el extremo (al igual que los linces, lo que le vale en ocasiones el apelativo de "lince de los pantanos"), patas largas y cola algo corta. La longitud y color del pelaje son variables, aunque en este último caso suele ser un rojizo más grisáceo en las subespecies más norteñas, mientras que las del sur lo tienen más vivo, anaranjado o amarillento. Las rayas oscuras se restringen a las patas, cara y cola.

Alimentación

Estos animales cazan tanto en tierra como en áreas encharcadas. Entre sus presas se incluyen ratas y ratones, liebres, aves (algunas de tamaño tan grande como el faisán), serpientes, ranas y peces. Ocasionalmente capturan también puercoespines y cervatillos. Sus habilidades para el salto y la natación son notables.

Reproducción

La época de reproducción varía según la zona. Generalmente se produce una sola camada al año, aunque en algunas regiones pueden darse dos.

Las hembras sólo son receptivas durante cinco días, tiempo en el que se someten al acoplamiento. En torno a dos meses después se produce el parto en un nido de 1 a 6 crías, aunque lo más normal es que sean 2 ó 3. Éstas nacen cubiertas de rayas que se difuminan a medida que crecen. Hacia los cinco o seis meses inician su vida independiente y al año y medio de edad ya son maduros sexualmente.

Relación con el humano Resulta sorprendente la capacidad del gato de los pantanos para adaptarse al extraordinario impacto humano sobre los cursos de agua y áreas pantanosas donde vive, especialmente en Oriente Próximo. En lugar de resentirse por ello, el gato de la jungla prospera y llega a ser un visitante habitual de las poblaciones humanas, donde llega a instalarse en casas abandonadas, al igual que los gatos domésticos. En algunos lugares se cría como mascota exótica y puede cruzarse con el gato doméstico para conseguir híbridos conocidos como Chausies. La raza de gato más empleada en estos cruces es el abisinio.

El gato de los pantanos también es cazado por su piel, aunque en determinadas zonas goza de protección. Así ocurre en la India, concretamente en las zonas donde coincide con el tigre.

Se sabe que este animal llegó a ser domesticado en el Bajo Egipto para emplearlo en la caza de aves acuáticas. De hecho, es posible que la domesticación del gato de los pantanos llevara posteriormente a la del gato doméstico y no al revés, al menos en Egipto.

Subespecies [

Felis chaus chaus

• Felis chaus affinis
• Felis chaus fulvidina
• Felis chaus furax
• Felis chaus kelaarti
• Felis chaus kutas
• Felis chaus nilotica
• Felis chaus oxiana
• Felis chaus prateri

Chinese Desert Cat

Felidae is the biological family of the cats; a member of this family is called a felid. Felids are the strictest carnivores of the sixteen mammal families in the order Carnivora. The most familiar felid is the Domestic Cat, which first became associated with humans about 10,000 years ago, but the family includes all other wild cats including the big cats.

Extant felids belong to one of two subfamilies: Pantherinae (which includes the Lion, the Tiger, the Jaguar, and the Leopard), and Felinae (which includes the Cougar, the Cheetah, the Serval, the Lynxes and Caracal, along with the Ocelot and Domestic Cat).

The first felids emerged during the Oligocene, about 25 million years ago. In prehistoric times, there was a third subfamily known as Machairodontinae, which included the "saber-toothed cats" such as the well known Smilodon. There were also other cat-like mammals, such as Thylacosmilus or the Nimravidae which are not included in Felidae despite superficial similarities.

 Evolution

There are 41 known species of felids in the world today, which have all descended from the same ancestor. This taxon originated in Asia and spread across continents by crossing land bridges. As reported in the journal Science, testing of mitochondrial and nuclear DNA by Warren Johnson and Stephen O'Brien of the U.S. National Cancer Institute demonstrated that ancient cats evolved into eight main lineages that diverged in the course of at least 10 migrations (in both directions) from continent to continent via the Bering land bridge and Isthmus of Panama, with the Panthera genus being the oldest and the Felis genus being the youngest. They estimated that 60 percent of the modern species of cats developed within the last million years.

Most felids have a haploid number of 18 or 19. New World cats (those in Central and South America) have a haploid number of 18, possibly due to the combination of two smaller chromosomes into one larger chromosome. Prior to this discovery, biologists had been largely unable to establish a family tree of cats from the fossil record because the fossils of different cat species all look very much alike, differing primarily in size.

The felids' closest relatives are thought to be the civets, hyenas, and mongooses. All felid species share a genetic anomaly that prevents them from tasting sweetness.

Characteristics

Felids are purely carnivorous animals, subsisting almost entirely on other vertebrates. Aside from the Lion, they are solitary. They are generally secretive animals, are often nocturnal, and live in relatively inaccessible habitats. Around three-quarters of cat species live in forested terrain, and they are generally agile climbers. However, felids may be found in almost any environment, with some species being native to mountainous terrain or deserts.

Wild felids are native to every continent except Australia and Antarctica.

Physical appearance

Skull the machairodontine Smilodon (Reconstruction)

Lion skull

The various species of felid vary greatly in size. One of the smallest is the Black-footed Cat at between 35-40 cm in length, while the largest is the Siberian Tiger. Compared with many other mammals, they have relatively short faces, and good binocular vision.

The fur of felids takes many different forms, being much thicker in those species that live in cold environments, such as the Snow Leopard. The colour of felids is also highly variable - although brown to golden fur is common in most species - often marked with distinctive spots, stripes, or rosettes. Many felid species also have a "tear stripe," a black stripe running from the corner of each eye down the side of the muzzle.

The tongue of felids is covered with horny papillae, which help to rasp meat from their prey. Almost all felids have fully retractable claws (one exception is the Cheetah). Cats have five toes on their forefeet and four on their hindfeet, reflecting their reliance on gripping and holding down their prey with their claws.

 Senses

Felids have relatively large eyes, situated to provide binocular vision. Their night vision is especially good, due to the presence of a tapetum lucidum, which reflects light back inside the eyeball, and gives felid eyes their distinctive shine.

The ears of felids are also large, and especially sensitive to high-frequency sounds in the smaller cats. Felids also have a highly developed sense of smell, although not to the degree seen in canids; this is further supplemented by the presence of a vomeronasal organ in the roof of the mouth, allowing the animal to "taste" the air. The use of this organ is associated with the Flehmen response, in which the upper lip is curled upwards.

Felids possess highly sensitive vibrissa (whiskers) set deep within the skin, and provide the cat with sensory information about the slightest air movement around it. For this reason, whiskers are very helpful to nocturnal hunters. Most felids are able to land on their feet after a fall, an ability which relies on vision and the sense of balance acting together. Dentition

With a few exceptions such as the lynx, felids have the dental formula:

The jaws of felids can only move vertically. This prevents them from being able to chew, but makes it easier for their powerful masseter jaw muscles to hold struggling prey.

 Classification

Traditionally five subfamilies are distinguished, the Felinae, the Pantherinae, the Acinonychinae (Cheetahs) and the extinct Machairodontinae and Proailurinae.

Extant species

Cheetah

Lion

Jaguar

Eurasian Lynx

Margay

Wild Cat

• FAMILY FELIDAE
  • Subfamily Felinae
    • Genus Felis
      • Chinese Mountain Cat (Felis bieti)
      • Domestic Cat (Felis catus)
      • Jungle Cat (Felis chaus)
      • Pallas's Cat (Felis manul)
      • Sand Cat (Felis margarita)
      • Black-footed Cat (Felis nigripes)
      • Wild Cat (Felis silvestris)
    • Genus Prionailurus
      • Leopard Cat (Prionailurus bengalensis)
      • Iriomote Cat (Prionailurus iriomotensis)
      • Flat-headed Cat (Prionailurus planiceps)
      • Rusty-spotted Cat (Prionailurus rubiginosus)
      • Fishing Cat (Prionailurus viverrinus)
    • Genus Puma
      • Cougar (Puma concolor)
      • Jaguarundi (Puma yagouaroundi)
    • Genus Lynx
      • Canadian Lynx (Lynx canadensis)
      • Eurasian Lynx (Lynx lynx)
      • Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus)
      • Bobcat (Lynx rufus)
    • Genus Leopardus
      • Pantanal Cat (Leopardus braccatus)
      • Colocolo (Leopardus colocolo)
      • Geoffroy's Cat (Leopardus geoffroyi)
      • Kodkod (Leopardus guigna)
      • Andean Mountain Cat (Leopardus jacobitus)
      • Pampas Cat (Leopardus pajeros)
      • Ocelot (Leopardus pardalis)
      • Oncilla (Leopardus tigrinus)
      • Margay (Leopardus wiedii)
    • Genus Leptailurus
      • Serval (Leptailurus serval)
    • Genus Caracal
      • Caracal (Caracal caracal)
    • Genus Profelis
      • African Golden Cat (Profelis aurata)
    • Genus Catopuma
      • Bay Cat (Catopuma badia)
      • Asian Golden Cat (Catopuma temminckii)
    • Genus Pardofelis
      • Marbled Cat (Pardofelis marmorata)
  • Subfamily Pantherinae
    • Genus Neofelis
      • Clouded Leopard (Neofelis nebulosa)
      • Bornean Clouded Leopard (Neofelis diardi)
    • Genus Panthera
      • Lion (Panthera leo)
      • Jaguar (Panthera onca)
      • Leopard (Panthera pardus)
      • Tiger (Panthera tigris)
    • Genus Uncia
      • Snow Leopard (Uncia uncia)
  • Subfamily Acinonychinae
    • Genus Acinonyx
      • Cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus) 
      •  Alternative classification

Genetic research gives a more concise classification for the living members of the cat family^.

• Lineage 1: Panthera, Uncia, Neofelis
• Lineage 2: Pardofelis, Catopuma,
• Lineage 3: Leptailurus, Caracal, Profelis
• Lineage 4: Leopardus
• Lineage 5: Lynx
• Lineage 6: Puma, Acinonyx
• Lineage 7: Prionailurus, Otocolobus
• Lineage 8: Felis

The last four lineages are more related to each other than to the first four, and form a clade within Felinae.

 Fossil felids

The American Lion was one of the abundant Pleistocene megafauna, a wide variety of very large mammals who went extinct about 10,000 years ago.

The oldest known true felid (Proailurus) lived in the late Oligocene and early Miocene epochs. During the Miocene it gave way to Pseudaelurus. Pseudaelurus is believed to be the latest common ancestor of the two extant subfamilies and the extinct subfamily, Machairodontinae. This group, better known as the saber-tooth cats, became extinct in the Late Pleistocene era. The group includes the genera Smilodon, Machairodus and Homotherium. The Metailurini were originally classified as a distinct tribe within the Machairodontinae, though they count as members of the Felinae in recent times.^[9][10] The total number of fossil Felids that are known to science is not very high. Most extinct cat-like animals, once regarded as members of the Felidae, later turned out to be members of related, but distinct, families: the "false sabretooths" Nimravidae and Barbourofelidae. As a result, sabretooth "cats" seem to belong to four different lineages. Felidae radiated quite recently and most of the extant species are relatively young.

 Genera of the Felidae

The list follows McKenna and Bells Classification of Mammals for prehistoric genera (1997)^[2] and Wozencraft (2005) in Wilson and Reeders Mammal Species of the World for extant genera.^[1] Pseudaelurus is included here in the Felinae according to McKenna & Bell despite its basal position in felid evolution. Inconsistent to McKenna and Bell three additional prehistoric genera, Miracinonyx, Lokontailurus und Xenosmilus are listed. Sivapanthera is included into the Felinae (not Acinonychinae) and Ischrosmilus is included in the genus Smilodon.

Proailurus

Leopard cat (Prionailurus)

Ocelot (Leopardus)

Lion (Panthera)

Megantereon

• †Proailurinae
  • †Proailurus
• Felinae
  • †Pseudaelurus
  • †Sivaelurus
  • †Vishnufelis
  • †Pikermia
  • †Abelia
  • †Nimravides
  • †Pratifelis
  • †Adelphailurus
  • †Metailurus
  • †Dinofelis
  • †Dolichofelis
  • †Sivapardus
  • †Jansofelis
  • †Sivapanthera
  • Acinonyx
  • †Miracinonyx
  • Puma
  • Felis
  • Prionailurus
  • Lynx
  • Leopardus
  • Leptailurus
  • Caracal
  • Profelis
  • Catopuma
  • Pardofelis
• Pantherinae
  • †Leontoceryx
  • †Dromopanthera
  • †Schaubia
  • †Viretailurus
  • Panthera
  • Neofelis
  • Uncia
• †Machairodontinae
  • †Machairodus (Late Miocene, Africa, Eurasia, North America)
  • †Homotherium (Pliocene, Pleistocene; Africa, Eurasia, North America)
  • †Xenosmilus (Pleistocene; North America)
  • †Lokontailurus (Latest Miocene; Africa)
  • †Miomachairodus (Middle Miocene; Africa, Asia)
  • †Hemimachairodus
  • †Paramachairodus (Late Miocene; Eurasia, Africa)
  • †Megantereon (Pliocene, Pleistocene; North America, Africa, Eurasia)
  • †Smilodon (Late Pliocene to Late Pleistocene; North- and South America)

• Los félidos (Felidae) son una familia del orden Carnivora. Poseen un cuerpo esbelto, oído agudo y excelente vista. Son los mamíferos cazadores más sigilosos. La mayoría consume exclusivamente carne e ignora cualquier otra comida que no sea una presa viva. La capturan con sus afiladas garras y suelen matarla de un único y tenaz mordisco.

  A excepción de los guepardos, todos los felinos pueden retraer sus garras dentro de una vaina protectora mientras no las usan.

  Hay alrededor de 38 especies en esta familia; muchas escasean en la actualidad, porque han sido objeto de caza por su piel o para aprovechar partes de su cuerpo, o porque su hábitat está siendo destruido, como pasa con el lince ibérico (Lynx pardinus), el felino en mayor peligro de extinción.

  Excepto en Antártida, Oceanía y algunas islas, se los encuentra en todo el mundo.

  Contenido 1 Grandes félidos 2 Clasificación

  Grandes félidos

  Las 5 especies actuales más grandes de la familia son por este orden: tigre, león, jaguar, leopardo y leopardo de las nieves.

  En general son cazadores rápidos (guepardo: 108km/h; tigre: 80km/h; leopardo: 60km/h y león: 50km/h) y fuertes.

  Clasificación

  Dentro de los félidos se encuentran las siguientes subfamilias y géneros:

  • Familia Felidae
    • Subfamilia Felinae
      • Género Felis
        • Felis bieti - Gato chino del desierto
        • Felis chaus - Gato de la jungla
        • Felis manul - Manul o gato de Pallas
        • Felis margarita - Gato de la arena
        • Felis nigripes - Gato de pies negros
        • Felis silvestris - Gato montés (incluido Felis silvestris catus o gato doméstico)
      • Género Prionailurus
        • Prionailurus bengalensis - Gato de Bengala o Gato-leopardo
        • Prionailurus bengalensis iriomotensis - Gato de Iriomote
        • Prionailurus planiceps - Gato de cabeza plana
        • Prionailurus rubiginosus - Gato rojo manchado
        • Prionailurus viverrinus - Gato pescador
      • Género Puma
        • Puma concolor - Puma
        • Puma yagouaroundi - Jaguarundi o gato-nutria
      • Género Acinonyx
        • Acinonyx jubatus - Guepardo
      • Género Lynx
        • Lynx canadensis - Lince de Canadá
        • Lynx lynx - Lince boreal
        • Lynx pardinus - Lince ibérico
        • Lynx rufus - Lince rojo
      • Género Leopardus
        • Leopardus braccatus - Gato pantanal
        • Leopardus colocolo - Gato colocolo
        • Leopardus geoffroyi - Gato de Geoffroy
        • Leopardus guigna - Kodkod o Huiña
        • Leopardus jacobitus - Gato de montaña o andino
        • Leopardus pajeros - Gato de las pampas
        • Leopardus pardalis - Ocelote
        • Leopardus tigrinus - Tigrillo
        • Leopardus wiedii - Gato-tigre o gato de Margay
      • Género Leptailurus
        • Leptailurus serval - Serval
      • Género Caracal
        • Caracal caracal - Caracal o lince africano
      • Género Profelis
        • Profelis aurata - Gato dorado africano
      • Género Catopuma
        • Catopuma badia - Gato rojo de Borneo
        • Catopuma temminckii - Gato dorado asiático
      • Género Pardofelis
        • Pardofelis marmorata - Gato jaspeado
    • Subfamilia Pantherinae
      • Género Neofelis
        • Neofelis nebulosa - Pantera nebulosa o leopardo longibando
        • Neofelis diardi - Pantera nebulosa indonesia
      • Género Panthera
        • Panthera leo - León
        • Panthera onca - Jaguar
        • Panthera pardus - Leopardo
        • Panthera tigris - Tigre
      • Género Uncia
        • Uncia uncia - Pantera de las nieves o irbis
    • Subfamilia Machairodontinae †

White Tiger

...Nothing really new here. You've all seen pictures of white tigers by this point, but you might not know the story of where these cats came from or how they got to be on the wall of every frame shop/print gallery that you walk in to...I am the man to tell you that story. But first...(because I have to turn everything into a freakin' master's thesis)...I will give you a little background on tigers in general. Then I will follow it up with the story of the white tiger in specific...as best I know the facts.

You guys know what a tiger is, right? O.K....There were originally eight accepted subspecies of tiger (Panthera tigris)...here is a list...

The Bali Tiger (P.t. balica) - the smallest and darkest of the tigers lived on the island of Bali where it went extinct when the last female was killed on September 27, 1937.

The Caspian Tiger (P.t. virgata) - was second in size only to the Siberian.The last time a living specimen was seen was in Afghanistan in 1967. A fresh skin was examined in eastern Turkey in 1973. A dozen or so Caspians are thought to have held out in the mountains of northern Iran until about 1980. It is believed to be completely extinct, but occasional reports of sightings still trickle out of the area.

The Javan Tiger (P.t. sondaica) - was the most recent extinction. Last seen in 1972, it is thought that there were only two left by 1981, despite attempts to set up a preserve. There was no report of the animal after 1988.

The South China Tiger (P.t. amoyensis) - continues to be poached. There are probably less than fifty left in the world and only twenty of these are wild. The South China tiger has the most sparsely striped coat of all the tigers.

The Sumatran Tiger (P.t. sumatrae) - This species is the smallest surviving species and is characterized by a long facial "ruff". There are less than 400 left.

The Siberian or Amur Tiger (P.t. altaica) - is the largest of all the tigers, reaching thirteen feet long and weighing up to eight hundred pounds. There are around one thousand left, but around five hundred of these are in captivity. The remaining 200-450 or so live in a small area of northeastern Russia and North Korea.

The Indo-Chinese Tiger (P.t. corbetti) - Around 1200 are spread out over Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Burma, and Malaysia.

The Bengal or Indian Tiger (P.t. tigris) - The most numerous species with approximately 3000 individuals. This is the only subspecies in which Leucistic (white) individuals have been reported.

Over the past one hundred years, there have only been a dozen or so reports of white Bengal tigers being seen in the wild in India. The striking white coat is caused by a double recessive allele in the genetic code, and only turns up naturally about once in every 10,000 births. Strangely enough, the Bengal tiger is the only subspecies in which it seems to happen. As beautiful as it may look, life as a white tiger can't be easy when your life depends on being able to hide from and/or sneak up on things.

In 1951, in central India, Maharaja Shri Martand Singh found a male white cub who's mother had been recently killed. He returned to his palace with the cub that he named "Mohan". The tiger soon became a bit of a celebrity.

When Mohan reached adulthood, he was bred to a normal tiger named "Begum". They produced three litters of cubs, but none of them were white. When Mohan was bred to one of his own daughters from the second litter however, four white cubs were born.One of these white cubs was named "Mohini" who was then bred to her uncle/half-brother "Sampson" and two of their offspring were sent to the National Zoo in Washington D.C. where they were bred to each other and produced, among other cubs, "Kesari" who was the foundation for the Cincinnati Zoo's line of white tigers....yada,yada,yada...you get the picture.

In short, ALL of the white tigers you see in pictures are descendants of Mohan, and they are a close knit family (if you know what I mean). This includes the thirty-five or so "Royal White Tigers of Nevada" kept by Siegfried and Roy at The Mirage in Las Vegas.

The hard working people who are trying to preserve the genetic integrity of all the separate subspecies don't dig the idea of zoo keepers constantly inbreeding one line of Bengals, (and filling up zoo space with pretty oddities), while so many other types of tiger are tottering on the edge of extinction. This is made worse by the fact that, in the rush to produce more white tigers, not much attention was paid to the lineage of the other animals being bred into the line. The result is that few of the white tigers can be said, with any certainty, to be pure Bengal, as Mohan was.

I know that sounds fascist, but I kind of see both sides. If white tigers mean increased attendance at zoos, then they mean more money, and in the hands of a good zoo, more money translates to better facilities...etc...etc.etc. It can only help the SSP, (Species Survival Plan), in the long run....ON THE OTHER HAND...I hate to see the world get to the point where people are only interested in saving the prettiest, the biggest, or the most impressive. I think the white tiger is possibly the most beautiful animal on earth, but we have plenty of them now...They are pseudo-domestic animals totally unsuited for life in the wild...and if there are only 50 Chinese Tigers left...I'd rather someone spend MY zoo admission on THEM.-S.

Nombres vernáculos Lince ibérico (Castellano) Linx ibéric (Catalán) Gato cerval (Gallego) Katamotz iberriara (Vasco) Iberian lynx (Ingles) Pardel lynx (Ingles) Spanish lynx (Ingles) Lynx d’Espagne (Francés) Lynx pardelle (Francés) Pardelluchs (Alemán) Lobo cerval (Portugués) Lince pardina (Italiano)

"No dudo ni un momento en invocar la fuerte mano de la ley protectora y de los protocolos internacionales en la preservación de la riqueza biológica, en oposición a los incentivos tributarios y a los permisos de contaminación vendibles. En las sociedades democráticas, la gente puede pensar que su gobierno está ligado por una versión ecológica del juramento hipocrático: no emprender acción alguna que, a sabiendas, pueda poner en peligro la biodiversidad. Pero esto no es suficiente. El compromiso debe ser mucho más profundo: no dejar, a sabiendas, que ninguna especie muera, emprender todas las acciones razonables para proteger a perpetuidad a todas las especies y razas. La responsabilidad moral del gobierno en la conservación de la biodiversidad es similar a la que tiene en lo concerniente a la salud pública y a la defensa militar. La preservación de las especies a través de las generaciones está más allá de la capacidad de los individuos o incluso de poderosas instituciones privadas. Hasta donde se estime que la biodiversidad es un recurso público insustituible, su protección debería estar especificada en los preceptos legales."