Wildlife of the Alligator River


Length	4 ft 7 in. to 5 ft 5 in. (140 cm to 165 cm); Tail 13½ in. to 16½ in. (32 cm to 41 cm)
Height	15 in. to 16 in. (38 cm to 41 cm)
Weight	40 lb to 80 lb (18 kg to 36 kg)
Habitat	Brush, forested areas, coastal plains, swamps, and bayous
Typical diet	Deer, marsh rabbits, mice and other small mammals, birds
Similar species	Gray wolves, coyotes

Red wolves are shy animals that normally avoid human contact. Although they are actively breeding and free ranging in Tyrrell, Hyde, and Dare counties, they are rarely seen. They are animals of edges so look for them near the edges of fields or other open places. Just after the huge soybean fields in the Alligator River NWR have been harvested in the fall entire families of wolves may be seen searching for mice, rats, rabbits, and other small game.
During late November and early December wolves may be seen near field edges in which flocks of just arrived tundra swans are grazing young winter wheat or gleaning recently harvested soybean fields. A Tyrrell County deer hunter, told the writer that he saw a red wolf charge a flock of feeding swans and jump high enough to catch an injured or sick swan as it tried to fly away.

Red wolves (Canis rufus) are slightly smaller than the more common gray wolves. They are named for the reddish hairs in their mostly gray and black coats. Their howl sounds more like a coyote's than a gray wolf's.

Red wolves are primarily nocturnal, but they are active during the day in the winter months. They make their dens along stream banks and under stumps or in culverts, hollow logs, and burrows.

Red wolves prey upon white-tailed deer, raccoons, marsh rabbits, rodents, and birds.

Social and reproductive aspects
Red wolves form packs that consist of a pair of breeding adults, their pups, and juvenile offspring of the previous year or 2.

Predators
Red wolves were eliminated from their natural range by 1980 due to persecution by humans and the destruction of their habitat. Interbreeding with coyotes and domestic dogs also contributed to their downfall. In the early 1970s, the US Fish and Wildlife Service captured the few red wolves remaining in the wild to prevent them from becoming extinct. Red wolves were reintroduced at the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina in 1986. Red wolves are an endangered species.

To learn more about the red wolf, the reintroduction program, and the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge, be sure to check out the Red Wolves of Alligator River site sponsored by The North Carolina Zoo.