Four Iberian wolf pups have finally shown their faces at Howletts.

Shy by nature, the pups have been protected by their family whilst adapting to their new surroundings.

Born just a few months ago, the one male and three female pups are the new additions to a pack of nine animals in total.

Head of carnivores, Jim Vassie, said: "Howletts has only very recently started keeping Iberian wolves and since the arrival of a pair from a Spanish zoo in 2006, we have had two successful litters with a 100 percent survival rate."

Factfile

•Until 1900s the Iberian wolf inhabited the major part of the Iberian Peninsula but the Francoist Government started an extermination campaign during the 1950s and 1960s that wiped out the animals from all over Spain except the North West part of the country and some isolated areas in Sierra Morena.

•The political climate in Portugal almost led to the extinction of the wolf south of the Douro River but there are still some packs surviving.

•The Iberian wolf is classified as lower risk (IUCN) but there are only 2,000 wolves present in the Iberian Peninsula, 300 of which roam Portugal.

• In the wild, the Iberian wolf lives in small packs and feeds mostly on wild boar, as well as rabbits, roe deer, red deer and ibex. They have been known to hunt domestic animals.

•Males can weigh up to 40 kilos with females approximately 30 kilos.

•The average litter of pups is between three and four with females reaching full maturity at five years old.