Red Wolf
Scientific name Canis rufus
Adult size
- Weight
- ♀F 23 kg ♂M 29.1 kg
- Length
- ♀F 1.1 m ♂M 1.2 m
- Shoulder height
- ♀F 0.64 m ♂M 0.66 m
- Top speed chase
- ♂M 48 km/h
- Lifespan
- Red Wolves often live about 4 years in the wild; captive records can reach about 14 years.
Represented by Roan Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge (eastern North Carolina), United States
Red wolves belong to the wet, broken cover of the south-eastern United States: pine flatwoods, pocosin thickets, marsh edges, refuge roads, canals, and open fields stitched together by scent trails.
The range
Three regions, one species.
The red wolf doesn't live in one place. Across the map below, each region has its own pressures, prey, and politics — same biology, different worlds.
United States
Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge (eastern North Carolina)
Modern red-wolf recovery landscape and eastern North Carolina public range context.
Source ↗United States
Albemarle Peninsula / eastern North Carolina coastal plain
Morphometric study context for adult-male public stat selection.
Source ↗United States
Historical southeastern United States range
Historical context only; current wild distribution should be checked against same-day conservation sources before broad public statements.
Source ↗
Daily life
What the red wolf does, day to day.
Diet, social behaviour, climate — the everyday biology that shapes how this species hunts, defends and survives.
Diet
Carnivorous canid diet: white-tailed deer, raccoons, rabbits, rodents, nutria, carrion, and other local prey when available.
Social life
Family-based packs form around a breeding adult pair and offspring.
Climate
Southeastern United States coastal plain: pocosin wetlands, pine flatwoods, marsh edge, agricultural edges, forested corridors, and refuge mosaics.
Wyld Trivia
Five questions. Most people get them wrong.
But you're not most people.
Tap to reveal.
Is a red wolf just a coyote or a grey wolf?
Show meHideNo. Red wolf taxonomy has a complicated history, but the National Academies 2019 report supported treating the red wolf as a distinct species rather than only a grey-wolf or coyote form.
How big is an adult male red wolf?
Show meHideIn an eastern North Carolina study, adult male red wolves averaged 29.1 kg, with a measured range from 21.4 to 38.6 kg. That makes the red wolf a lean medium canid, not a grey wolf in a smaller coat.
Why does a red wolf need space to use its best tools?
Show meHideRed wolves are territorial canids built around route choice, scent, cover, and dawn-or-dusk movement. In a solo encounter, that becomes angle control, scent reading, and re-entry pressure instead of brute-force wrestling.
What does a red wolf eat?
Show meHideRed wolves are carnivorous canids. Source accounts list prey and food such as white-tailed deer, raccoons, rabbits, rodents, nutria, carrion, and other locally available animals. The exact mix changes with the habitat around them.
Why is the red wolf's conservation story so important?
Show meHideThe modern red-wolf story is tied to recovery, captive breeding, reintroduction, coyote overlap, and eastern North Carolina refuge landscapes. It is a rare animal with a real conservation story still unfolding.
The terrain
Where the red wolf thrives.
Every animal is built for some places more than others. These are the ground, hours and weather where this species shows its best — and its worst.
Ground
- Pine flatwoodsExcels
- Marsh edgeExcels
- PocosinExcels
- Open field edgeStrong
- Forest corridorStrong
- DesertAvoids
- AlpineAvoids
- SnowfieldAvoids
Hours
- DawnExcels
- DuskExcels
- TwilightExcels
- NightStrong
- DayStruggles
Weather
- ModerateExcels
- RainStrong
- HumidStrong
- HotAverage
- StormStruggles
- ColdAvoids
Five things you didn't know about the red wolf.
Cited biology that shapes how the red wolf hunts, fights, survives.
In an eastern North Carolina study, adult male red wolves averaged 29.1 kg, with a measured range from 21.4 to 38.6 kg. Source ↗
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service describes red wolves as around 26 inches at the shoulder and about 4 feet from nose to tail. Source ↗
The National Academies 2019 report supported classification of the red wolf as a distinct species rather than treating it as only a grey-wolf or coyote form. Source ↗
Red wolves are family-pack canids: groups usually form around a breeding adult pair and their young. Source ↗
Source accounts list red-wolf food such as white-tailed deer, raccoons, rabbits, rodents, nutria, carrion, and other locally available prey. Source ↗
About the red wolf
Where the red wolf sits on the tree of life.
Class
Mammalia
Warm-blooded animals with fur or hair that feed their young milk.
Order
Carnivora
Mostly meat-eating mammals — cats, dogs, bears and their relatives.
Family
Canidae
The dog family — pack-hunting, long-distance runners.
Species
Canis rufus
Red Wolf — the species this page is about.
Red Wolf
Every fact, cited.
Biology cited on this page comes from peer-reviewed zoology and the major species databases. Click through for the underlying study, dataset or assessment.
- doi.org · doi.org
- fws.gov · fws.gov
- nationalacademies.org · nationalacademies.org
- fws.gov · fws.gov
- Animal Diversity Web · Animal Diversity Web
