The red wolf, Canus rufus, is an endangered species of wolf found only in the southeastern US. It is most closely related to the eastern timber wolves of eastern Canada, Canis lupus lycaon. There is considerable controversy about this species since it does readily hybridize with coyotes (Canis latrans). The ability of the red wolf to breed with coyotes does not diminish its uniqueness. Rather, because only 15 individuals remain in the wild after a long and complicated reintroduction history, red wolf individuals have no other option but to mate with coyotes. The first reference to this species was made as early as 1850 by John James Audubon who described a Black American Wolf that existed in Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Kentucky, southern Indiana, southern Missouri, Louisiana, and northern Texas. In 1905, a mammalogist, Vernon Bailey, described Canis rufus as we know it today. And in 1937, the zoologist Edward Alphonso Goldman even proposed three separate subspecies - two of which are now extinct. This determination was made based on skull and dental morphology, and phenotypic variation (fur color ranging from black, gray, to cinnamon-buff). Based on fossil evidence, the red wolf displaced the coyote from the southeast until it was targeted and widely extirpated through bounty hunting. The most recent scientific analysis by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2019) holds that the historic red wolf forms a valid taxonomic species, the modern red wolf is indeed distinct from wolves and coyotes, and modern red wolves trace some of their ancestry to historic red wolves. The taxonomic classification of Canis rufus as a distinct modern red wolf species is supported unless genomic evidence from historical red wolf specimens changes this assessment due to a lack of continuity between the historic and the modern red wolves. Recently, a new study shows that red wolves also persist in Louisiana and suggest an immediate reassessment of canid management and taxonomic designation in that area (Murphy et al. 2019).
The Evolution and Ecology of Red Wolves, with Joseph Hinton, PhD.
Resources
National Academies Of Sciences, Engineering (2019). Evaluating the Taxonomic Status of the Mexican Gray Wolf and the Red Wolf. Board on Life Sciences. National Academies of Sciences and Engineering.
Adkins, C. (2019). Return For America’s Red Wolves: A Roadmap for Reintroducing the Nation’s Most Endangered Mammal. Center for Biological Diversity. Press Release
Murphy, S. M., Adams, J. R., Cox, J. J., & Waits, L. P. (2019). Substantial red wolf genetic ancestry persists in wild canids of southwestern Louisiana. Conservation Letters, 12(2), e12621.
Hinton, J. W., Brzeski, K. E., Rabon, D. R., & Chamberlain, M. J. (2017). Effects of anthropogenic mortality on critically endangered red wolf Canis rufus breeding pairs: implications for red wolf recovery. Oryx, 51(1), 174-181.
Hohenlohe, P. A., Rutledge, L. Y., Waits, L. P., Andrews, K. R., Adams, J. R., Hinton, J. W., ... & White, B. N. (2017). Comment on “Whole-genome sequence analysis shows two endemic species of North American wolf are admixtures of the coyote and gray wolf”. Science advances, 3(6), e1602250.
Gese, E. M., Knowlton, F. F., Adams, J. R., Beck, K., Fuller, T. K., Murray, D. L., ... & Waits, L. P. (2015). Managing hybridization of a recovering endangered species: The red wolf Canis rufus as a case study. Current Zoology, 61(1), 191-205.
Wilson, P. J., Grewal, S., Lawford, I. D., Heal, J. N., Granacki, A. G., Pennock, D., ... & Chambers, R. E. (2000). DNA profiles of the eastern Canadian wolf and the red wolf provide evidence for a common evolutionary history independent of the gray wolf. Canadian journal of Zoology, 78(12), 2156-2166.
National Academies Of Sciences, Engineering (2019). Evaluating the Taxonomic Status of the Mexican Gray Wolf and the Red Wolf. Board on Life Sciences. National Academies of Sciences and Engineering.
Adkins, C. (2019). Return For America’s Red Wolves: A Roadmap for Reintroducing the Nation’s Most Endangered Mammal. Center for Biological Diversity. Press Release
Murphy, S. M., Adams, J. R., Cox, J. J., & Waits, L. P. (2019). Substantial red wolf genetic ancestry persists in wild canids of southwestern Louisiana. Conservation Letters, 12(2), e12621.
Hinton, J. W., Brzeski, K. E., Rabon, D. R., & Chamberlain, M. J. (2017). Effects of anthropogenic mortality on critically endangered red wolf Canis rufus breeding pairs: implications for red wolf recovery. Oryx, 51(1), 174-181.
Hohenlohe, P. A., Rutledge, L. Y., Waits, L. P., Andrews, K. R., Adams, J. R., Hinton, J. W., ... & White, B. N. (2017). Comment on “Whole-genome sequence analysis shows two endemic species of North American wolf are admixtures of the coyote and gray wolf”. Science advances, 3(6), e1602250.
Gese, E. M., Knowlton, F. F., Adams, J. R., Beck, K., Fuller, T. K., Murray, D. L., ... & Waits, L. P. (2015). Managing hybridization of a recovering endangered species: The red wolf Canis rufus as a case study. Current Zoology, 61(1), 191-205.
Wilson, P. J., Grewal, S., Lawford, I. D., Heal, J. N., Granacki, A. G., Pennock, D., ... & Chambers, R. E. (2000). DNA profiles of the eastern Canadian wolf and the red wolf provide evidence for a common evolutionary history independent of the gray wolf. Canadian journal of Zoology, 78(12), 2156-2166.
