A Spanish Photographer Just Captured an ‘Impossible’ Photo of a Ghost-Like Lynx
A rare white Iberian lynx was photographed in the wild for the first time by Spanish photographer Ángel Hidalgo in October 2025. The sighting happened near Jaén, in southern Spain, after months of tracking the animal.
The lynx, named Satureja, was previously unknown to the public but had already been monitored by conservation scientists. The surprising thing about this particular lynx is that its fur, once the usual brown and black, gradually turned white after birth.
The Footage That Started It All
The first trace of the unusual lynx came from a short clip recorded by one of Hidalgo’s camera traps. It lasted only a few seconds. In that moment, he noticed a wild cat that didn’t match any Iberian lynx he had seen before. The animal had a white coat with dark spots and carried itself like a lynx, but the coloring threw everything off.
He questioned whether the lens had distorted the footage, but the animal’s form and behavior looked clear. After reviewing the video again and again, Hidalgo became convinced it was real. He returned to the same area and walked through the hills at dawn and dusk, sometimes staying out for hours.
For weeks, there was no sign of the creature once more. But he continued because that video was enough to send him into full pursuit. It marked the beginning of a long and uncertain search through one of Spain’s most remote corners.
A Difficult Search with an Unbelievable Ending
Hidalgo’s search continued for months without reward. The area near Jaén where he first captured the footage was quiet and dense, not easy terrain for tracking elusive wildlife. HHe had close calls, glimpses of movement, but nothing clear, which made him think about stopping more than once.
Then one morning, after a full night of rain, the lynx appeared. It looked at him directly, its pale fur striking against the wet earth. He took the photos he had waited months to get, and those images traveled quickly through Spain and then internationally.
Scientists Already Knew This Lynx Existed
Though Hidalgo’s photos were new to the public, conservationists had already been monitoring this particular lynx. Researchers working with the EU-backed LIFE Lynx-Connect program had identified her as a female named Satureja. She was born in 2021 with normal brown-and-black coloring typical of her species.
Eventually, her fur began to lose pigment and turned a pale, spotted white. Experts ruled out both albinism and standard leucism. Albinism affects the eyes and skin; this lynx didn’t show those signs. Leucism causes a partial loss of pigmentation, but her case didn’t follow the expected pattern.
Professionals now suspect environmental factors played a role. This wasn’t an isolated case either. Years earlier, scientists observed a similar transformation in a different female lynx in the same region. That lynx’s coat returned to brown eventually, which led to questions about pigment sensitivity. With Satureja, they plan to conduct testing soon to examine what may be affecting her physiology.