The Red Wolf

Red Wolf :: WLR :- The red wolf (Canis rufus) is a North American canid which once roamed throughout the Southeastern United States and is a glacial period survivor of the Late Pleistocene epoch. Based on fossil and archaeological evidence, the original red wolf range extended throughout the Southeast, from the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, north to the Ohio River Valley and central Pennsylvania, and west to central Texas and southeastern Missouri. Historical habitats included forests, swamps, and coastal prairies, where it was an apex predator. The red wolf became extinct in the wild by 1980. 1987 saw a reintroduction in northeastern North Carolina through a captive breeding program and the animals are considered to be successfully breeding in the wild.

The Red Wolf stands about 66–79 cm (26–31 in) at the shoulder. The total length is 111–165 cm (44–65 in) including a tail of 30–43 cm (12–17 in). The body weight can range from 16 to 41 kg (35 to 90 lb) but averages at about 24.5 kg (54 lb). Male red wolves are approximately 10% larger than females. Coat long, coarse; mostly brown and buff colored on the upper part of the body with some black along the backs. Muzzle long; nose pad wide and black; ears rufous; legs long; tail long, bushy, black tipped. Body is intermediate in size between the gray wolf (Canis lupus) and the coyote (Canis latrans)
The red wolf pup begins life with a slate or dark gray pelt with auburn-tinged fur visible on its head. As it matures, this color changes color to a mixture of buff, tawny, cinnamon and brown along the body and a black tipped tail; it often has black guad hairs too and sometimes presents with black or dark bars on its forelegs. The pelt molts once annually in the winter. Its muzzle is white furred around the lips. The red wolf is generally intermediate in size between the coyote and the gray wolf. However, the disproportionately long legs and large ears are two obvious features that separate red wolves from coyotes and gray wolves. Its overall appearance is more slender and gracile than that of a gray wolf.

In May 2011, an analysis of red wolf, Eastern wolf, gray wolf, and dog genomes revealed that the red wolf was 76-80 percent coyote and only 20-24 percent gray wolf, suggesting that the red wolf is actually much more coyote in origin than the Eastern wolf. This study analyzed 48,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms and found no evidence for a unique Eastern wolf or red wolf species. However, the US Fish and Wildlife Service still considers the red wolf a valid species and plans to make no changes to its recovery program.

When considered as a full species, three subspecies of red wolf were originally recognized by Goldman; two of these subspecies are extinct. Canis rufus floridanus (Maine to Florida).It has been extinct since 1930 and Canis rufus gregoryi (south-central United States) was declared functionally extinct in the wild by 1980. Canis rufus rufus, the third surviving subspecies, was also functionally extinct in the wild by 1980, although that status was changed to "critically endangered" when captive-bred red wolves wolves were reintroduced in eastern North Carolina in 1987. The current status of the “non-essential/ experimental” population in North Carolina is “endangered” and the population numbers around 100 wild animals.

The red wolf has one estrous cycle per year and typically becomes sexually mature by its second year. Litters average three pups and red wolves live in family units similar to those of gray wolves. Data acquired from the restoration project indicate that the offspring of a breeding pair are tolerated in their natal home range until the onset of sexual maturity.

The red wolf lives in an extended family unit which includes a dominant breeding pair and young from prior seasons. The red wolf will scent mark territorial boundaries to deter intrusion from other wolf packs. As an apex predator, red wolves have no natural predators, although they may compete for prey with bobcats and coyotes and kills may be stolen by American black bears.
Prior to extinction in the wild, the red wolf diet consisted of nutria, rabbits and rodents. In contrast, the red wolves from the restored population rely on white-tailed deer, raccoon, nutria and rabbits. It should be noted, however, that white-tailed deer were largely absent from the last wild refuge of red wolves on the Gulf Coast between Texas and Louisiana (where specimens were trapped from the last wild population for captive breeding), which likely accounts for the discrepancy in their dietary habits listed here. Historical accounts of wolves in the southeast by early explorers such as William Hilton, who sailed along the Cape Fear River in what is now North Carolina in 1644, also note that they ate deer.