What is "red wolf"

n. Common name for ''Canis rufus''.

n. reddish-gray wolf of southwestern North America [syn: maned wolf, Canis rufus, Canis niger]

The red wolf (Canis rufus/Canis lupus rufus), also known as the Florida wolf or Mississippi Valley wolf is a canid of unresolved taxonomic identity native to the eastern United States. It is generally, morphologically, an intermediate between the coyote and gray wolf, and is of a reddish, tawny color. The red wolf is a federally listed endangered species of the United States, and is protected by law. It has been listed by IUCN as a critically endangered species since 1996.

Red wolves may have been the first New World wolf species encountered by European colonists and were originally distributed throughout the eastern United States from the Atlantic Ocean to central Texas, and in the north from the Ohio River Valley, northern Pennsylvania and southern New York south to the Gulf of Mexico. The red wolf was nearly driven to extinction by the mid-1900s due to aggressive predator control programs, habitat destruction and extensive hybridization with coyotes. By the late 1960s, it occurred in small numbers in the Gulf Coast of western Louisiana and eastern Texas. Fourteen of these survivors were selected to be the founders of a captively bred population, which was established in the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium between 1974 and 1980. After a successful experimental relocation to Bulls Island off the coast of South Carolina in 1978, the red wolf was declared extinct in the wild in 1980 in order to proceed with restoration efforts. In 1987, the captive animals were released into the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge on the Albemarle Peninsula in North Carolina, with a second release taking place two years later in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Of 63 red wolves released from 1987-1994, the population rose to as many as 100 - 120 individuals in 2012 but has declined to 50 - 75 individuals in 2015.

The red wolf's taxonomic status has been a subject of controversy. A 2011 genetic study indicated that it may be a hybrid species between gray wolves and coyotes. Re-analysis of this study coupled with a broader contextual analysis including behavioral, morphological and additional genetic information led to arguments that the red wolf is an independent species but has suffered from significant introgression of coyote genes likely due to decimation of red wolf packs with fragmentation of their social structure from hunting. A comprehensive review in October 2012 concluded that the red wolf is a distinct species which diverged from the coyote alongside the closely related eastern wolf 150,000-300,000 years ago, Although this 2012 review was not universally accepted among relevant authorities, two subsequent reviews of updated research in 2013 and 2014 suggest that the red wolf was once a species distinct from the gray wolf and coyote. A 2015 genetics study, using the most comprehensive mitochondrial DNA data, Y-chromosome data and genome-wide 127,235 SNP data, concluded that "the most parsimonious explanation" is that eastern wolves in Algonquin Provincial Park are "a distinct remnant entity of a historical wolf that most likely existed throughout the eastern United States". This view is supported by the idea that the coyote and gray wolf did not historically range into the eastern United States, with current academic debate on red wolf taxonomy shifting to a new question: whether the eastern wolf and red wolf are conspecific (belong to the same species), a possibility considered by some researchers. In contrast, a 2016 study of 28 sequenced canid genomes concluded that red and eastern wolves have sequences that can be explained as resulting from gray wolf-coyote hybridization.

Red Wolf is the name of a number of fictional characters appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The different characters are Native American heroes with mystical powers and have a trusted wolf companion named Lobo.

The red wolf (Canis rufus) is a mammal of the order Carnivora

Red wolf can also refer to:

• Cuon alpinus, also known as the dhole, chennai, and Indian wild dog
• Red Wolves a group of Qutaibi fighters during the Aden Emergency in what is now Yemen
• Red Wolf (comics), Marvel Comics character
• Arkansas State Red Wolves Name of all this university's sports teams
• Florence Red Wolves, South Carolina baseball team
• HSC-84 "Red Wolves," a United States Navy helicopter squadron
• Red Wolf Sanctuary & Raptor Rehab Center, a wildlife sanctuary in Rising Sun, Indiana (United States)