A photographer in Spain claims to have captured on camera what is believed to be the world's first white Iberian lynx, which is extremely rare even among the world's rarest cats. The leucistic animal is practically a myth, as most species are usually brown or beige-white.
The lynx is leucistic, a condition that causes a lack of pigmentation in the fur but not in the eyes, giving the wildcat a ghost-like appearance. Lynxes are now classified as critically endangered species in the world, and a leucistic type is extremely rare.
According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the Iberian lynx is very spotted and weighs about half as much as the Eurasian species, with long legs and a very short tail with a black tip. Its fur is reddish with dark spots and it bears a characteristic "beard" around its face and prominent black ear tufts.
The remarkable discovery is being attributed to extensive conservation efforts to protect the Iberian lynx, which was saved from extinction after its numbers fell to below 100 big cats in 2002. However, environmentalists have warned that while the white fur looks great on camera, in the wild it is a terrible camouflage.
The rare footage has raised suspicions that it could be generated by artificial intelligence, but at least so far there is no evidence of such. According to Spanish channel Hora Jaén TV, the footage was captured by Ángel Hidalgo, a nature photographer from Jaén.