Habitat, Range and Species Survival

Red wolves once ranged from Pennsylvania to Florida and as far west as Texas. They lived in forests, coastal prairies and wetlands, hunting around their home ranges for about a week before moving on. A male wolf home range generally covers 45-50 square miles and for females 25-30 square miles.

Wild red wolves were hunted by humans because they were thought to kill livestock. In 1980 the last wild red wolf was taken into captivity for its own protection and red wolves were declared extinct in the wild.

The 38 institutions that house captive red wolves work with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to recover the species. A Master Plan meeting occurs each summer to determine which wolves should live together at which institution, and for what purpose (breeding, companionship). There are now about 180 red wolves in captivity and 100 in the wild (at the Alligator River and Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuges in Eastern North Carolina).

Diet

In the wild, red wolves eat rabbits, squirrels, mice, muskrat, nutria, fish, insects, birds, frogs, turtles, raccoon, carrion, berries and plants. They will take down larger animals like deer and occasionally domestic animals.

Life Cycle

A newborn red wolf pup weighs 13 to 15 ounces and is part of a litter of two to eight pups (usually four or five). Pups will stay with their parents for just about two years. In the wild they live four to six years; red wolves in captivity typically live eight to 15 years.

Adaptations

Wolves use their sense of smell more than any other sense to find prey. They can smell prey more than a mile away – long before they see them. Red wolves have strong muscles and long legs to run fast after prey. They have strong skulls and jaws, and specialized teeth: canines grab and hold prey, carnassials used to slice up food, and incisors to pick meat off the bones. Even wolves’ back molars are sharp.