red wolves

As in my last post, red wolves play a particularly big role in southeastern United States. Unfortunately, they are the world’s most endangered canidae, and also natives to southeastern United States.

Historically, red wolves used to roam from central Texas to Pennsylvania and parts of the mid-west. Now, they live in only a fraction of their historical range. The red wolves lost approximately 99.7% of their territory; which is more than any other large carnivore, including lions, tigers and snow leopards.

Red wolves are carnivorous mammals that prey on smaller mammals such as raccoons, rabbits and rodents. They also prey on white-tailed deer. Although their diets mainly consist of meat, depending on what prey is available in their territory, they are known to eat insects and berries.

With a population of fewer than 50 wolves, the red wolf is the world’s rarest wolf. The wild population was almost completely wiped out in 1969. In 1980, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) rounded up about 20 red wolves to be bred in captivity. And in 1987, red wolves were reintruduced into the wild in eastern North Carolina.

From approximately 14 to 20 red wolves, their population grew to 130 in 2006. Six years later (2012), the red wolf population shrunk to 90-100 wolves, mainly due to gunshot mortality and ‘coyote night time hunting’ in North Carolina.

Now, with insufficient explanations, the FWS reports the total number of red wolves in the wild to be fewer than 25. Red wolves are now the world’s most endangered canidae, and the world’s rarest wolf breed.

Google search for Red Wolves: From Project Coyote

In my last blog post I did a short summary of the ‘War on Wolves’. I went over a few key points of what has happened starting from 2011 to now.

In this post I will be covering what role wolves play and how they affect the environment and ecosystem.

Due to research, it has been proven that wolves in particular contribute to the overall function and stability of the landscape. Wolves prey on large, hoofed mammals such as deer, moose and elk. By using the diseased, young, old, weak and injured as prey, wolves keep prey populations in good health.

When deer and elk become overly abundant for their environment, they overgraze on vegetation, which leads to potential damage to other native wildlife and degradation of their habitat.

The red wolf in particular plays a big role in southeastern United States. Historically, red wolves roamed from southeastern Texas to central Pennsylvania. But due to the eradication of the wolf population, they are now mainly only found, in the wild, in eastern North Carolina’s Albemarle Peninsula.

With the elimination of red wolves, the coyote and raccoon population grew, and in turn, the wild turkey population shrunk. With the growth of the coyote population, the abundance of small predators, such as foxes, grew smaller. And without foxes preying on smaller mammals that are responsible for infecting ticks with Lyme disease, the chances of incidence and range for the disease increases.

With how grey wolves primarily prey on hoofed mammals that graze on vegetation, they help shape the environment in which they live. Because there is no overgrazing, it increases the populations of countless species from birds of prey to pronghorn, and even trout and different types of fish. And as proven with Yellowstone National Park, wolves played a huge role in not only reshaping the rivers, but also reviving many plants and trees that fell victim to overgrazing.

There are multiple other roles that wolves play in the environment, and it’s not only red and grey wolves. It has been proven time and time again that wolves are important for the environment and ecosystem. They help parks and forests flourish with fauna and native wildlife.

Tag: red wolves

The Role That Wolves Play