Red wolf
The red wolf (Canis rufus) is a wild canid found in eastern North America, and closely related to gray wolf. Critically endangered, the species was once extinct in the wild, but captive breeding enabled a successful, if somewhat guarded, reintroduction into several counties in North Carolina.
| Red wolf | |
|---|---|
| |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom Information | |
| Domain | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Subkingdom | Bilateria |
| Branch | Deuterostomia |
| Phylum Information | |
| Phylum | Chordata |
| Sub-phylum | Vertebrata |
| Infraphylum | Gnathostomata |
| Class Information | |
| Superclass | Tetrapoda |
| Class | Mammalia |
| Sub-class | Theriiformes |
| Infra-class | Holotheria |
| Order Information | |
| Superorder | Preptotheria |
| Order | Carnivora |
| Sub-order | Caniformia |
| Infraorder | Cynoidea |
| Family Information | |
| Family | Canidae |
| Sub-family | Caninae |
| Tribe Information | |
| Tribe | Canini |
| Genus Information | |
| Genus | Canis |
| Species Information | |
| Species | C. rufus |
| Population statistics | |
| Population | <150 (2008) |
| Conservation status | Critically endangered[1] |
Description
Red wolves are clearly smaller than gray wolves. They have a length of about 53.5â63 inches from head to tail, and weigh about 50-85 pounds. Males are on average ten percent larger than females. People once thought it was a hybrid between a gray wolf and a coyote, but studies have since confirmed it isn't; the red wolf is its own species.
The coat color is reddish in many individuals, but not always. Cinnamon, beige, and blackish red wolves also occur. The reliable distinguishing feature which sets it apart from the gray wolf is therefore not the fur, but the much more graceful form. In addition, the red wolf has a narrower snout and proportionally larger ears.
Raccoons, rabbits, and rodents are its main prey, and it attacks larger animals such as deer only if they are sick and weakened. In addition, red wolves also feed on carrion.
Like gray wolves, red wolves live in packs formed by a male/female pair and their younger cubs. A litter consists of three to six cubs, with up to twelve on rare occasions. Howls are less loud and less bearing than those of the gray wolf, sounding like a mixture of wolves and coyotes.
Threats
The red wolf has been rare throughout the latter half of the 20th century, with its numbers declining; by the early 1980s, the species was listed as "endangered" by the IUCN, and was later upgraded to "critically endangered" by 1996. Approximately 150-200 red wolves live in a small area in northeastern North Carolina where they were reintroduced in 1987, and their numbers are believed to be slowly increasing.
Apart from the occasional vehicle collision, the major concern is hybridization with coyotes[2], which were not in the reintroduction area until the early 1990's. Current estimates suggest that for the red wolf to survive with at least 90% genetic diversity for 100 years, there can be no more than one hybrid litter for every 59 litters, or an acceptable introgression rate of 1.7% of the total population. Field research in 1999 noted an introgression rate of 15%, which meant the species would disappear within 24 years. Management under the scope of the USFWS since 2000 has reduced the introgression rate to approximately 4%[3].