Red wolf
| Red wolf Temporal range: 10,000 Years-Present | |
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| Canis lupus rufus | |
The red wolf (Canis rufus) is an endangered species of wolf from southeastern United States.
Red wolves were declared extinct in the wild in 1980 after the few remaining wild wolves were placed in a captive breeding program. In 1987, red wolves were reintroduced to the wild in northeastern North Carolina. However, the population has rapidly diminished as of late 2016.
The red wolf is smaller than a gray wolf and larger than a coyote. It is slender and long-legged, and it lives in the wild only on the Albemarle Peninsula in North Carolina. It hunts small mammals, rodents, and white-tailed deer.
There is a lot of controversy about its taxonomy, which is not settled yet.
