Red wolf Facts for Kids

This page is about the wild canine. For other uses, see Red wolf (disambiguation).

Quick facts for kids Red wolf Temporal range: Holocene 10,000 years ago – present

A red wolf showing typical coloration
Conservation status
Critically Endangered (IUCN 3.1)
Endangered (ESA)
Scientific classification
Genus:	Canis
Species:	rufus
Subspecies
†C. r. floridanus †C. r. gregoryi C. r. rufus

The red wolf (Canis rufus) is a canine native to the southeastern United States. Its size is between the size of the coyote (Canis latrans) and gray wolf (Canis lupus).

Under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service currently recognizes the red wolf as an endangered species and grants protected status. Since 1996, the IUCN has listed the red wolf as a Critically Endangered species. However, it is not listed in the CITES Appendices of endangered species.

History
- Relationship to humans
Description
Behavior
Diet
Range and habitat
- Reintroduced habitat
Captive breeding and reintroduction
- 20th century status
- 21st century status
Interesting facts about the red wolf
Images for kids
See also

History

Red wolves have lived in the southeastern and south-central United States from the Atlantic Ocean to central Texas. They have also lived in southeastern Oklahoma and southwestern Illinois in the west. They lived as far north as southern Ontario.

The species was nearly driven to extinction by the mid-1900s due to aggressive predator-control programs, habitat destruction, and extensive hybridization with coyotes. By the late 1960s, it occurred in small numbers in the Gulf Coast of western Louisiana and eastern Texas.

To keep the red wolf from going completely extinct, the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium kept fourteen of the survivors to breed in captivity between 1974 and 1980. They intended to breed them so they could build the species back up in number to be released into the wild. In 1980, the red wolf was declared extinct in the wild.

Relationship to humans

Since before European colonization of the Americas, the red wolf has been important in Cherokee spiritual beliefs, where it is known as wa'ya (ᏩᏯ). It is said to be the friend of Kana'ti - the hunter and father of the Aniwaya, or Wolf Clan. Traditionally, Cherokee people avoid killing red wolves, as such an act is believed to bring about the vengeance of the killed animals' pack-mates.

Description

A red wolf

The red wolf's size is between the size of the coyote and the gray wolf. Adults measure 53.5–63 in (136–160 cm) in length, and weigh 50-85 lbs (23–39 kg). Its fur is typically more reddish than the coyote's and gray wolf's. Its fur is generally orange-brown or yellow-brown to grayish, with light markings around the lips and eyes.

Behavior

The red wolf is more sociable than the coyote, but less sociable than the gray wolf.

The red wolf is monogamous. It mates in January–February. On average, 6-7 pups are born in March, April, and May.

Both parents raise the young. Their dens are usually found in hollow tree trunks, along stream banks, and in the abandoned earths of other animals. By the age of six weeks, the pups distance themselves from the den. They reach full size at the age of one year and are ready to become parents two years later.

Diet

Before extinction in the wild, the red wolf ate mostly rabbits, rodents, and nutria (an introduced species). Red wolves that have been released to the wild after they were bred in captivity eat white-tailed deer, raccoon, nutria, and rabbits.

Range and habitat

Historical range of the red wolf

The originally recognized red wolf lived throughout the southeastern United States from the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, north to the Ohio River Valley and central Pennsylvania, and west to Central Texas and southeastern Missouri.

Red wolves probably used many habitat types at one time. The last naturally occurring population used coastal prairie marshes, swamps, and agricultural fields. However, this environment is probably not a normal red wolf habitat. Scientists believe that most red wolves lived in bottom-land river forests and swamps of the southeastern United States before these areas were cleared.

Reintroduced habitat

Since 1987, red wolves have been released into northeastern North Carolina, where they roam 1.7 million acres. More than half of the land used for reintroduction lies on private property. Approximately 680,000 acres (2,800 km²) are federal and state lands, and 1,002,000 acres (4,050 km²) are private lands.

Following an unsuccessful attempt to begin a thriving population of red wolves in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the remaining red wolves were relocated to Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in eastern North Carolina. Others have been released on the coastal islands of Florida, Mississippi, and South Carolina as part of the captive breeding management plan.

Captive breeding and reintroduction

USFWS worker with red wolf pups, August 2002

After the passage of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) began a program to save the red wolf from extinction. The USFWS captured four hundred wolves and brought them to the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in Tacoma, Washington. They tested the animals and kept only the pure red wolves. Fourteen wolves became the breeding stock for the captive breeding program.

20th century status

In 1996, the red wolf was listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as a critically endangered species.

21st century status

Over 30 facilities participate in the red wolf Species Survival Plan and oversee the breeding and reintroduction of over 150 wolves.

In 2007, the USFWS estimated that 300 red wolves remained in the world, with 207 of those in captivity. Since then, numbers have decreased because landowners kill wolves and the USFWS is not as active in their conservation efforts.

During the winter of 2021-2022, a family of five red wolves were released into the Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, while two new breeding pairs of adult wolves were released into the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge. The release of these new wolves brought the number of wild red wolves in eastern North Carolina up to less than 30 wild individuals.

On April 22, 2022, one of the breeding pairs of adult red wolves produced a litter (group of animals born at the same time to a set of parents) of six wolf pups, four females and two males. This new litter of red wolf pups became the first litter born in the wild since 2018.

Interesting facts about the red wolf

There is no documented case of a red wolf attacking a person. (The story of Little Red Riding Hood is fiction.)
Red wolves eat more than just meat: they like berries as well.
Red wolves help the plants in the wetlands by eating nutria, a large rodent that eats the wetland plants.
Red wolves keep the same partner for life.
Sometimes a red wolf couple will care for other red wolf pups.
Red wolves can reach speeds up to 30 mph in short bursts when chasing prey.
They have been known to travel up to 20 miles in one day looking for food.
Red wolves eat 2–5 pounds (0.91–2.27 kg) of food per day.
Red wolves communicate through vocalizations (including howling), body posture, facial expressions, and scent marking.