Iberian wolf | |
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Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Order: | Carnivora |
Family: | Canidae |
Genus: | Canis |
Species: | |
Subspecies: | C. l. signatus
|
Trinomial name | |
Canis lupus signatus |
The Iberian wolf (Canis lupus signatus,[2][3][1][4] or Canis lupus lupus,[5] Spanish and Portuguese: Lobo ibérico),[6] is a subspecies of grey wolf. It inhabits the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula, which includes northwestern Spain and northern Portugal. It is home to 2,200-2,700 wolves which have been isolated from mixing with other wolf populations for over a century. They form the largest wolf population in Western Europe.[7]
Due to population controls and damage to livestock, Iberian wolves were, as of September 2021,[8][9][10] the only Western European subspecies of wolf whose hunting remained legal, yet only in Spain. Nonetheless, very few hunting permits were given every year, strictly north of the Douro river.[11] Along with the difficulty of their hunt by virtue of their vigilant nature and the rarity of their sightings, they were strongly desired by many European hunters as a big-game trophy.[12][13]
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