The Iberian Wolf is a subspecies of a gray wolf that lives in the Iberian Peninsula. Many years ago, this species was abundant but its current population must be around 2000 wolves of whom about 300 live in Portugal.

Rafael Coutinho nº18 11ºB

A little smaller than the other subspecies of graywolf, the Iberian wolf measures about 130 to 180 cm in length, while females measure 120 to 160 cm. Adult males usally weight between 30 to 40 kg and female between 20 to 35 kg.

Its head is large and the ears are triangular and it has slanting yellow eyes. The fur color ranging from the brown to black mixed with gray. The mating season covers the end of the winter and early spring. The main prey of this specie are the wild boar, deer and sometimes domestical animals like cow and sheep.

The Iberian wolf lives in groups, in a strong hierarchical organisation. The number of wolves in the groups ranges from 3 to 10 wolves and is composed by a “alpha pair”.

In the nineteenth century the wolf was distribued throughout most of the territory of the Iberian Peninsula. Throughout the twentieth century, hunting and habitat reduction caused their extinction in most of this territory. Currently the Iberian wolf is mostly restricted to the northwest quadrant of the peninsula.

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