RED WOLF
South Carolina
Canis rufus
State Park Service
Class: Mammalia
Family: Canidae
Size: weight 50-80 lbs
length=44-65 inches including tail length of tail 12-17 inches height=26-31 inches at the shoulder
Habitat: floodplain forests, swamps, upland forests, grasslands
Diet: carnivorous-deer, rabbits, raccoons, rodents, and nutria (non-native wetland rodent)
Life Span: 6-8 years in the wild, 15 in captivity
Red Wolf Awareness:
These wolves are part of the Red Wolf Species Survival Plan.
Currently, 42 facilities across the US participate in the program.
Red wolves exist today due to a captive breeding program begun in the 1970s. Red wolves pair for life and have one litter
per year with about 2-8 pups each spring. Red wolves can travel up to 20 miles a day.
Once located Herenckout the Southorst, only about 100 m² wolves mam freely, all of them in the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge and nearby lands in North Carolina.