100 wolf wiki12/3/2023 ![]() It mates in January–February, with an average of 6-7 pups being born in March, April, and May. The red wolf is more sociable than the coyote, but less so than the gray wolf. Its cerebellum is unlike that of other Canis species, being closer in form to that of canids of the Vulpes and Urocyon genera, thus indicating that the red wolf is one of the more plesiomorphic members of its genus. The skull is typically narrow, with a long and slender rostrum, a small braincase and a well developed sagittal crest. The ears are also proportionately larger than the coyote's and gray wolf's. The red wolf has been compared by some authors to the greyhound in general form, owing to its relatively long and slender limbs. Its fur is generally tawny to grayish in color, with light markings around the lips and eyes. Its pelage is typically more reddish and sparsely furred than the coyote's and gray wolf's, though melanistic individuals do occur. Their weight ranges from 20 to 39 kg (44-85 lbs) with males averaging 29 kg (64 lbs) and females 25 kg (55 lbs). A study of Canis morphometrics conducted in eastern North Carolina reported that red wolves are morphometrically distinct from coyotes and hybrids. The red wolf's appearance is typical of the genus Canis, and is generally intermediate in size between the coyote and gray wolf, though some specimens may overlap in size with small gray wolves. As of 2023, there are between 15 and 17 wild red wolves in ARNWR. In 2022, the first wild litter was born since 2018. Under pressure from conservation groups, the US Fish and Wildlife Service resumed reintroductions and increased protection. Of 63 red wolves released from 1987 to 1994, the population rose to as many as 100–120 individuals in 2012, but due to the lack of regulation enforcement by the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the population has declined to 40 individuals in 2018, about 14 in 2019 and 8 as of October 2021. In 1987, the captive animals were released into the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge (ARNWR) on the Albemarle Peninsula in North Carolina, with a second release, since reversed, taking place two years later in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. After a successful experimental relocation to Bulls Island off the coast of South Carolina in 1978, the red wolf was declared extinct in the wild in 1980 to proceed with restoration efforts. By the late 1960s, it occurred in small numbers in the Gulf Coast of western Louisiana and eastern Texas.įourteen of these survivors were selected to be the founders of a captive-bred population, which was established in the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium between 19. ![]() ![]() The red wolf was nearly driven to extinction by the mid-1900s due to aggressive predator-control programs, habitat destruction, and extensive hybridization with coyotes. Red wolves were originally distributed throughout the southeastern and south-central United States from the Atlantic Ocean to central Texas, southeastern Oklahoma and southwestern Illinois in the west, and in the north from the Ohio River Valley, northern Pennsylvania, southern New York, and extreme southern Ontario in Canada south to the Gulf of Mexico. 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. Fish and Wildlife Service currently recognizes the red wolf as an endangered species and grants it protected status. Under the Endangered Species Act of 1973, the U.S. Because of this, it is sometimes excluded from endangered species lists, despite its critically low numbers. The red wolf's taxonomic classification as being a separate species has been contentious for nearly a century, being classified either as a subspecies of the gray wolf Canis lupus rufus, or a coywolf (a genetic admixture of wolf and coyote). Its size is intermediate between the coyote ( Canis latrans) and gray wolf ( Canis lupus). The red wolf ( Canis rufus) is a canine native to the southeastern United States.
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