The American Red Wolf ( Canis rufus) is a captivating and critically endangered species, holding a precarious position in the ecosystems of the southeastern United States. Understanding their dietary habits is crucial for effective conservation efforts. This article delves into the intricacies of the red wolf's diet, exploring its historical variations, current composition, and the factors that influence their food choices.
A Glimpse into the Red Wolf
American Red Wolves are considered the most endangered canine species in the world. On average these animals weigh about 50 pounds and stand 28 inches tall. The Red Wolf is between the size of a gray wolf and a coyote, weighing anywhere between 45 and 80 pounds. Adults measure 136-165 cm (53.5-65 in) in length, comprising a tail of about 37 cm (14.6 in). Their weight ranges from 20 to 39 kg (44-85 lbs) with males averaging 29 kg (64 lbs) and females 25 kg (55 lbs).
Their fur color ranges from cinnamon red to gray or black. Their coats are mostly brown or buff with a rust color along their capes and on the backs of their legs. Males are usually about 10 percent larger than females. The red wolf's appearance is typical of the genus Canis, and is generally intermediate in size between the coyote and gray wolf, though some specimens may overlap in size with small gray wolves. Its pelage is typically more reddish and sparsely furred than the coyote's and gray wolf's, though melanistic individuals do occur. Its fur is generally tawny to grayish in color, with light markings around the lips and eyes. The red wolf has been compared by some authors to the greyhound in general form, owing to its relatively long and slender limbs. The ears are also proportionately larger than the coyote's and gray wolf's. The skull is typically narrow, with a long and slender rostrum, a small braincase and a well developed sagittal crest.
Packs consist of an alpha male, an alpha female and their offspring, with an average of roughly five to eight members in total. The alpha male and female form bonded pairs for life. There is a hierarchy of dominant and subordinate animals within the pack. A pack allows for protection and increased resources. American Red Wolves communicate with one another through body posture, vocalizations and scent markings.
Historically, they were present from Texas, east to Florida, and north to Pennsylvania in mountains, lowland forests, and wetlands. Presently, the only wild population is a reintroduced population in northeastern North Carolina; although, a breeding pair was reintroduced to St. Vincent Island, Florida also. Red Wolves are known to exist in only one location outside of human care- the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in eastern North Carolina. In the late 1980s, 14 Red Wolves were released in the refuge from a surviving un-hybridized population found along eastern Texas.
Read also: The Hoxsey Diet
Historical Diet
Prior to its extinction in the wild, the red wolf's diet consisted of rabbits, rodents, and nutria (an introduced species). Given their wide historical distribution, red wolves probably used a large suite of habitat types at one time. The last naturally occurring population used coastal prairie marshes, swamps, and agricultural fields used to grow rice and cotton. However, this environment probably does not typify preferred red wolf habitat. Some evidence shows the species was found in highest numbers in the once extensive bottom-land river forests and swamps of the southeastern United States.
Current Dietary Habits
Much of the red wolves diet depends on what prey is available at the moment. Their diet may include swamp rabbits, racoons, carrion, and white-tailed deer. Red wolves can travel pretty far to find something to hunt. Red wolves are considered tertiary consumers since they eat secondary consumers. The red wolf is a top predator, also called an apex predator, and has no known predators except humans.
In contrast, the red wolves from the restored population rely on white-tailed deer, pig, raccoon, rice rats, muskrats, nutria, rabbits and carrion. White-tailed deer were largely absent from the last wild refuge of red wolves on the Gulf Coast between Texas and Louisiana (where specimens were trapped from the last wild population for captive breeding), which likely accounts for the discrepancy in their dietary habits listed here.
Since American Red Wolves are smaller than gray wolves, their diet consists of mostly smaller mammals such as opossums, skunks, raccoons, rabbits and the occasional sick or weak deer. And guess what? They will eat berries, maybe even blueberries, and insects. They also eat nutria which are found along the North Carolina coast where our only wild Red Wolves live. Nutria, also known as swamp rats, are an invasive species from South America.
Factors Influencing Diet
Prey Availability
The primary driver of the red wolf's diet is the availability of prey within their habitat. As opportunistic predators, they adapt their hunting strategies and food choices based on what is readily accessible. This can vary depending on the season, geographic location, and the overall health of the ecosystem.
Read also: Walnut Keto Guide
Habitat
Habitats in the southeastern United States that provide water, food, shelter and have enough roaming space were fit for any red wolf to live. Red wolves can thrive in a wide range of habitats including forests, marshes, swamps, and prairies. Red wolves reintroduced into northeastern North Carolina have used habitat types ranging from agricultural lands to forest/wetland mosaics characterized by an overstory of pine and an understory of evergreen shrubs.
Competition
Competition with other predators, such as coyotes, can also influence the red wolf's diet. In areas where coyotes are abundant, red wolves may be forced to target different prey species or alter their hunting behaviors to avoid direct competition.
Human Impact
Historically, the red wolf was trapped and killed almost to extinction by humans to protect livestock and game (Mulheisen and Csomos 2001). When settlers first arrived to the New World, they brought an extreme fear that wolves were associated with the Devil. Bounties were issued for wolves due to the fear of the species. Fish & Wildlife Service 1989).
Conservation Efforts and Diet
Understanding the dietary needs of red wolves is paramount for successful conservation efforts. By ensuring access to suitable prey and managing habitat to support healthy populations of those prey species, conservationists can help red wolves thrive.
Breeding Programs
Fish and Wildlife Service and many zoos, the population numbers have been able to increase in a protected area in North Carolina. For the first time in the Akron Zoo’s history, we welcomed eight critically endangered American Red Wolf pups on April 22, 2021. The pups were born to the zoo’s former male, Waya, and former female, Juno. Diego and Brave and their two pups, Sentinel and Sabine moved to the Akron Zoo from Roger Williams Park Zoo in October 2023.
Read also: Weight Loss with Low-FODMAP
The WNC Nature Center is part of a breeding and management program known as the Red Wolf Species Survival Plan (SSP). Gloria was born in April 2019 and came from the Endangered Wolf Center in Missouri. In late April 2023, a litter of critically endangered Red Wolf puppies were born at the WNC Nature Center!
St. Fish and Wildlife Service began to save the red wolf from extinction, when a captive-breeding program was established at the Point Defiance Zoological Gardens, Tacoma, Washington. Measurements, vocalization analyses, and skull X-rays were used to distinguish red wolves from coyotes and red wolf × coyote hybrids. Of the 400 canids captured, only 43 were believed to be red wolves and sent to the breeding facility. The first litters were produced in captivity in May 1977. Some of the pups were determined to be hybrids, and they and their parents were removed from the program.
Fostering
When they were just one week old, four of the pups were designated by the Red Wolf Recovery Plan, a program led by US Fish and Wildlife Services, to be cross-fostered in a den in their native habitat. This decision was made in order to support the critically endangered native population, which was estimated to have as few as 20 individuals remaining. The four largest pups, two males and two females, were transported to North Carolina on May 1, 2021, and USFWS officials successfully introduced the pups to the foster den that day. Fostering is a creative conservation strategy that takes wolf pups born in a managed care litter and places them within a native litter. A native wolf mother, who had recently given birth to pups of her own, successfully adopted the new additions as her own, and USFW continues to track the progress of this young family. The goal of fostering is to increase genetic diversity. Juno and Waya were paired based on a breeding recommendation from the Red Wolf Species Survival Plan (SSP). The SSP is a scientifically managed breeding program that works to ensure a healthy, genetically diverse population of American Red Wolves in zoos.
Reintroduction Programs
In 1987, red wolves were reintroduced at Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina. Fish & Wildlife Service 2011). This program was needed due to the fact that the species’ population had been severely decimated and was on the brink of extinction. Out of the 17 red wolves captured for breeding, 14 were the pioneers of the successful breeding program. Fish & Wildlife Service listed the red wolf as extinct in the wild.
Beginning in 1991, red wolves were also released into the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in eastern Tennessee. Other red wolves have been released on the coastal islands in Florida, Mississippi, and South Carolina as part of the captive breeding management plan.
Challenges and Threats
Hybridization
Hybridization (mating between two different species) with coyotes threatens the red wolf population as it decreases the number of genetically distinct individuals.
Human-Caused Mortality
Other threats, such as habitat fragmentation, disease, and human-caused mortality, are of concern in the restoration of red wolves. In 2012, the Southern Environmental Law Center filed a lawsuit against the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission for jeopardizing the existence of the wild red wolf population by allowing nighttime hunting of coyotes in the five-county restoration area in eastern North Carolina.
Declining Population
By late 2020, the number of wild individuals had shrunk to only about 7 radio-collared and a dozen uncollared individuals, with no wild pups born since 2018.