Canis rufus
Tallahassee Museum (indigenous wildlife section)
Also know as the Florida wolf or Mississippi Valley wolf is a canid of unresolved taxonomic identity
native to the eastern US. Morephologically, it is an intermediate between the coyote
and gray wolf and usually has a reddish, tawny color.
The Red Wolf is listed as critically endangered by the IUCN (category 3.1)
The US Fish and Wildlife Service started a program to save the Red Wolf from extinction in 1973.
In 2010, the Red Wolf Recovery Program estimated that there are currently 130 red wolves in the
recovery area of North Carolina. In 1915 the US FWS reported that the wild population of Red Wolves
had decreased from 115 to 65.
Th Tallasshee Musuem breeds wolf pups, cares for injured wolves, and houses wolves in transit
under the direction of the Species Survival Plan (SSP)