Red Wolves By Caitlin S
Scientific name: Canis rufus. It is reddish-brown and a bit smaller than its cousin, the grey wolf. It is 1.524 meters, including tail. They live in the American prairies, misty forests (A.K.A. Taiga, pronounced tige-ar), swamps, wet-lands and bush-lands. The vegetation depends on the geographic location. On the prairies, there is an abundance of grass and small shrubbery; in the Taiga (pronounced tay-gar) the vegetation consists of tall pine trees and a layer of dead pine-needles on the ground; in the swamps and wet-lands, the vegetation is mainly algae in the water, heaps of trees and a majority of water reeds and plants; in the bush-lands, there are scrubby bushes, the occasional tree and dead bushes.
They are reddish-brownish, black, buff and tan in places. They have large ears to let the heat out when it’s hot, a thick coat to trap in the heat when it’s cold, sharp teeth to eat meat and a long muzzle. It kind of looks like a smaller, red version of the ‘grey’ wolf with an elongated face.
Red Wolf Pups
Red Wolves Fighting
Pups in the hands of someone
They’re incredibly sociable creatures, constantly barking, whining and growling to send information back and forth. They tell each other where a wolf should go, what position in the pack, what to prey on and that sort of thing. They prey on small ground rodents, lizards, large insects, deer, rabbits and berries.
Gestation takes about 60-63 days. The whole pack looks after the babies. A pack consists of an alpha, her mate, (‘husband’) and their offspring (‘kids’) for the year. They bark, growl, scratch and bite to protect themselves and each other.
Sadly, this beautiful species could be something people only hear about, not see by 2020. They’ve gone through so much, villages on the prairies, hunters, disease and humans. Luckily, they still have hope, in Texas and southern America, museums and wildlife defenders are gradually increasing the population. Wildlife parks are raising money and trying their hardest to protect this wolf.
After all you’ve read surely you want to donate, right? Please seriously think about protecting this ‘breed’ of wolf. Change the future, either let it become extinct or donate today. If you do want to donate (I'm sure you do!) please go to:
http://www.nywolf.org/support-us/donate
Thank you very much for your kind donation!