Red Wolf (Canis rufus)
These amazing animals are at risk!
Where it is found?
Today,they are found in their native habitats in eastern North Carolina, and others are maintained in captive breeding facilities throughout the North Carolina. Also The last red wolves were found in coastal prairie and marsh habitat because this was the last area in which the animals were allowed to remain. Any habitat area in the southeastern United States of sufficient size, which provides adequate food, water, and the basic cover requirement of heavy vegetation, should be suitable habitat for the red wolf. Telemetry studies indicate that red wolf home range requirements vary from about 25 to 50 square miles.
Why it is endangered?
Red wolf populations were very low by the 1960s due to intensive predator control programs and loss of habitat. After being declared an endangered species in 1973, efforts were initiated to locate and capture as many wild red wolves as possible. Of the 17 remaining wolves captured by biologists, 14 became the founders of a successful captive breeding program. Consequently, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service declared red wolves extinct in the wild in 1980.
What is being done to protect it?
By working on red wolf recovery through a combination of advocacy and public education. The species, once considered extinct in the wild, now numbers more than 100 in northeastern North Carolina.
Fun Facts
- The red wolf is a smaller and a more slender cousin of the gray wolf. It is gray-black, with a reddish cast that gives it the color for which it is named.
- The red wolf’s diet is primarily mad of small mammals like rabbits and rodents. Also they are known to eat insects, berries and sometimes deer.
- Red wolves are primarily nocturnal.