Its narrower proportions of body and skull, shorter fur, and relatively longer legs and ears distinguish the red wolf.  The head and body length is 3.25 to 4.25 feet; the tail length is about 1 to 1.4 feet; shoulder height is approximately 2.1 to 2.6 feet; weight is from 44 to 90 pounds.  The red element of the fur is sometimes pronounced; the upper parts are usually a mixture of cinnamon buff, cinnamon, or tawny, with gray or black.  The dorsal area of the fur is usually black.  The muzzle, ears and outer surfaces are tawny.  The underparts are whitish to pinkish buff in color and the tip of the tail is black. 

Few individuals survive more than 4 years in the wild, but up to at least 14 years in captivity.

Some captive born females have successfully bred during their first season (9 months of age).  Females are generally not reproductively viable until their second season (21 months).  Captive born males have successfully bred during their second season (21 months).

The behavior of red wolves is similar to that of the coyote. 

The basic social unit for this species is a mated, territorial pair.  Groups of 2-3 individuals are most common.  The red wolf is primarily nocturnal, but may increase its daytime activity during the winter.  It hunts over a relatively small part of its home range for about 7-10 days and then shifts to another area. Aggressive when trapped, with tail upright and canine teeth bared, they often attempt to attack.

The gestation period is from 60-63 days and the litter contains up to 12 young, with the average range between 4 & 7 cubs.

Red wolves readily swim, often taking refuge in water when fleeing threats.  Their long legs allow them to run very quickly and help them to capture fast moving prey such as deer and rabbits.

Natal dens are located in the trunks of hollow trees, streambanks, and sand knolls.  Dens are either self excavated or taken over from some other animal.

The red wolf is sometimes confused with the coyote, which is a separate distinct species.

Although it has been suggested that the red wolf (Canis rufus) originated as a fertile cross between gray wolves and coyotes, the red wolf may have existed in North America before both the gray wolf and the coyote. Fossils up to 750,000 years old indicate that the red wolf may be a close relative to a primitive ancestor of the North American canids.

The name “red” wolf is misleading.  Although the coat is tinged with red, the background hair color is gray or black.  There is also a black color phase.

Red wolves once ranged from the Mississippi Valley to Illinois and throughout the Southeast all the way to the tip of Florida.

The red wolf has never been known to attack people, and attacks on livestock were uncommon. 

In North American woodland mythology, Wolf is most often depicted as brother of the culture hero, Nanabozho.  In these stories, Wolf is killed, only to be revived to rule over the country of the dead.  In other myths, Wolf and Coyote are brothers or partners.

Some Native Americans saw Wolf as friend and teacher and thought that wolves were represented by Sirius, the Dog Star, believed to be home of the gods.  The Shoshone believed that at the death of the body the soul went to the land of the wolf.  The Nez Percé believed that all people were descendants of the wolf.  The name Pawnee means, “wolf”, and was given to the tribe because their method of warfare resembled the characteristics of the wolf.  Like the wolf, the Pawnee seemed tireless.

An old proverb says, “As a wolf is like a dog, so is a flatterer like a friend.”  A second proverb says, “The wolf might lose his teeth but never his nature,” and a third states, “Who keeps company with the wolf, will learn to howl.”  The phrase “Keep the wolf away from the door” means to earn enough money to keep the bill collectors away.

The red wolf is considered a threat to domestic livestock, and sometimes to people.  It was extensively hunted, trapped, and poisoned after the arrival of European settlers to North America.  In the 1880’s, there was a $5 bounty on red wolves in Florida; the bounty also included panthers and bears.  The last known pure wolf in Florida was killed in 1908, and the last hybrid in 1917.  In other parts of the Southeast, where they once numbered in the thousands, they disappeared from the wild in the 1970’s, officially listed as extinct in the wild by 1980.

Its range was also invaded by another species, the coyote (Canis latrans), and hybridization occurred.  In 1975, about 31 individuals were placed in zoos for breeding to help maintain the species and to potentially reintroduce the pure species to the wild.  At that time there were then no red wolves left in the wild.

According to our records, there is no history of this species at the Jacksonville Zoological Gardens prior to the opening of Wild Florida, March 2001.