Khaberni - An amateur photographer captured "unprecedented" pictures of a white Iberian lynx in Southern Spain, a very rare color for this animal.
The unique appearance of the lynx led researchers to questions about whether environmental factors were influencing this.
The photographer, Ángel Hidalgo, shared his pictures on social media platforms, describing the unique animal as "the White Ghost of the Mediterranean forest."
Hidalgo explained that he first saw the animal in footage from a camera he had set up in a wooded area near the Spanish city of Jaén.
The footage lasted only a few seconds, but it was enough to distinguish a lynx with white fur and dark spots, instead of the typical brown color and black spots usually associated with this species.
The images stirred a wide sensation in Spain and beyond, and media described them as the first time a white lynx has been captured.
However, conservationists said that the animal was known to researchers, but its sighting was very rare.
It is believed that the lynx's color was natural at birth, but its pigments changed at some stage, although its behavior remained the same.
Ecologist Javier Salcedo said, "We are investigating what might have happened (and changed the color of the lynx). We believe it may be related to exposure to an environmental factor."
He confirmed it was the second time researchers found a lynx with this characteristic, as earlier, they had tracked a female from the same area whose color changed to white and then returned to brown.
Salcedo continued, "This may indicate some sort of hypersensitivity. We discovered this case because we monitor the lynx closely, but this could happen in other species without us noticing."
The regional government in Andalusia mentioned that the next step would be to take samples from the lynx in hopes of understanding the reason behind its color change.
