Spanish wildlife photographer Ángel Hidalgo is used to photographing rare animals. He often takes pictures and videos of Iberian lynxes, who are considered to be some of the world’s most elusive cats.
But earlier this year, Hidalgo was checking his trail cameras when he saw something that utterly shocked him. He saw an Iberian lynx … whose fur was completely white.
Hidalgo didn’t get a clear look at the lynx, so he wasn’t sure if he could trust what he’d seen. But for months, it was all he could think about. He dedicated all his time to trying to see the animal with his own eyes. Last week, he finally did.
“One morning, after a night of rain, I was walking as I had done so many times before when suddenly, in the distance, I saw a white shape that seemed to radiate its own light,” Hidalgo wrote on Instagram.
Hidalgo was floored. He watched quietly as the lynx seemed to stare back at him, blinking slowly.
“Upon seeing for the first time a white Iberian lynx, with its snow-white winter coat and those piercing eyes, I was paralyzed; I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” Hidalgo wrote.
Hidalgo’s photos and videos mark the first time a white Iberian lynx has ever been caught on camera. The cat is considered leucistic, not albino, indicating a partial loss of pigmentation. Hidalgo has been keeping the lynx’s location a secret to ensure no one harms the rare animal.
Iberian lynxes, endemic to southwestern Europe’s Iberian Peninsula, are known for the beard-like tufts of fur they have under their chins. Twenty years ago, their population fell to below 100 and they were on the brink of extinction. But thanks to intensive conservation efforts, Iberian lynx numbers have been steadily growing.
“Encountering this feline was an unforgettable moment for me, and it made me reflect on the importance of nature and conservation,” Hidalgo wrote.
Hidalgo’s photos of the Iberian lynx have been capturing the imaginations of people online from all over the world. The cat’s surreal appearance and calm demeanor have led people to compare the animal to an otherworldly creature or spirit.
“Looks absolutely mythical,” Michael Bradshaw wrote on X.
“A divine omen,” another X user wrote.
While Hidalgo may never see the leucistic lynx again, he’ll never forget his encounter with who he calls “[t]he white ghost of the Mediterranean forest.”
