![]() They would venture into coastal marshes, staying mostly on roads, in pursuit of the abundant prey living in the marsh. From there, red wolves would range into rice fields and pastures. Heavy cover along bayous and in fallow fields were the primary resting and denning areas. Its final range consisted of coastal prairie and marsh in eastern Texas and western Louisiana. The red wolf typically inhabited areas with heavy vegetative cover. It will, however, prey on unattended young calves, pigs, and barnyard fowl. Unlike the gray wolf, the red wolf does not hunt in packs and is not considered a threat to larger livestock such as cattle. Wolves translocated to South Carolina preyed on fox squirrels, American coot, and other birds and small mammals. In its last wild refuge red wolves preyed on nutria, rabbit, rice rat, muskrat, and raccoon. ![]() ![]() The red wolf is an opportunistic predator, taking species that offer an easy capture. Litter sizes in captivity have ranged from two to eight pups. Red wolf pups are born in April or May after a gestation period of about two months. Although captive wolf pairs exhibit a fondness for each other, greeting, playing, and nuzzling, they are not faithful to a single mate. It is unknown whether red wolves form as strong a pair bond as gray wolves. Red wolves usually travel in groups of two or three, but lone wolves are not uncommon. It is believed that they have a less rigid social structure than gray wolves. Little solid scientific knowledge exists on the life history of wild red wolves. rufus, a western subspecies, which was actually a red wolf-coyote hybrid and is believed extinct and C. floridanus, an eastern subspecies that became extinct early in the twentieth century C. Despite its common and scientific name, this wolf shows a wide range of coloration, including red, brown, gray, black, and yellow.īiologists believe that the species Canis rufus originally consisted of three subspecies: C. Adults weigh between 40 and 80 lb (18 and 36 kg), males being larger. It is intermediate in size between the Endangered gray wolf ( Canis lupus ) and the coyote ( C. The red wolf, Canis rufus, has the size and appearance of a large dog. Heavily vegetated areas, coastal prairie, and marsh. Tawny red canine weighing about 50lb (22.7 kg)
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