Red Wolf News

 U.S. Fish & . Fish & . Fish & Wildlife Service

Volume 5, Issue 2 Summer Summer, 2004

 Each year in April and May,

wild red wolf puppies are born.

At birth, the pups weigh less

than a pound, have their eyes

closed shut and their ears pressed

down. The pups squirm in a pile,

safe in their dens. The pups’ ears

pop up within 10 days and

usually a week later, their cobalt

blue eyes open.

 By about four weeks old, the

pups are able to wander out of

the den, staying near the den

entrance. At six weeks, the pups

begin spending more time

outside of the den and by 8-9

weeks, the pups are weaned and

learning to hunt mice and other

small prey. The pups grow

rapidly. In the late fall, when the

pups are 8-10 months old, they

have an adult-sized frame and

biologists are able to fit them

with radio collars.

 For a red wolf puppy, the first

year of its life is a critical time

for learning, growing, and most

of all, surviving. Disease and

predators are daily challenges for

young red wolves.

 On average, only half of all

pups born each year in the wild

will survive their first year.

Those who survive, however,

will likely live an average of

seven years.

The First Year

 Every spring, field biologists with the Red

Wolf Recovery Program listen for the

squeaky whine of young red wolf pups as

they search beneath logs, in the pocosin

thickets, and in brush pile burrows for red

wolf dens. When biologists locate dens,

each pup is counted and tagged and blood

samples are collected before it is carefully

placed back in its den. This annual census

occurs during “puppy season,” early-April

through late May. This spring, red wolf

biologists had a record-breaking puppy

season, as the team located 11 dens with 55

pups and added two more puppies to the

count via fostering.

 Captive-to-wild fostering events are

coordinated efforts by the USFWS Red Wolf

Recovery Program and the American Zoo &

Aquarium Association’s Red Wolf Species

Survival Plan (RWSSP). Fostering is a new

method which allows genetically valuable

captive-born red wolf pups to become

integrated into the wild red wolf population.

The pups develop in the wild, so that they

gain survival skills required to mature and

reproduce. “This technique is effective,”

explains Art Beyer, Field Coordinator for the

Red Wolf Recovery Program, “when the

fostered pups live long enough to contribute

their genes to the wild population by

producing pups of their own.”

 This spring, in addition to the two new

2004 arrivals, the USFWS Red Wolf

Recovery Program was able to measure the

success of a previous 2002 fostering attempt.

It was this time two years ago when a bold

experiment placed two pups from the North

Carolina Zoological Park into a wild den

containing two pups of identical age. The

male and female pups were successfully

adopted by their wild foster mother and

raised within the pack. During the following

spring of 2003, the two captive-born

yearlings remained with their adopted pack

and helped raise a new litter of pups. This

spring, biologists were hopeful that each of the

zoo-born red wolves would produce litters of

their own.

 The male zoo-born wolf, displaced from his

adopted pack and forced to establish a range

of his own, was successful in securing the

alpha position of another established pack, just

in time for breeding season. Biologists are

celebrating the discovery of a litter of eight

puppies that was fathered by the zoo-born

male. This rather large litter denotes success

for the 2002 fostering attempt. “This event

demonstrates that the captive breeding

program and the free-ranging population are

integral aspects of the Red Wolf Recovery

Program. They still depend greatly on each

other for the recovery of the species,” explains

Will Waddell, Coordinator of the RWSSP

Captive Breeding Program.

 In mid-April, a telemetry intern detected a

mortality signal from the zoo-born female’s

radio tracking collar. A mortality signal is

produced when a red wolf does not move for

six hours. When the female’s body was

recovered, all symptoms pointed to

complications with pregnancy. “We are

saddened at the loss of this zoo-born female

and her unborn pups, but are encouraged by

her ability to adapt successfully to the wild

before dying of natural causes,” comments

Buddy Fazio, Team Leader of the Red Wolf

Recovery Program.

 Exciting Year

for Red Wolf Pups

One of two female red wolf pups born on Bulls

Island at Cape Romain National Wildlife

Refuge in South Carolina awaits her transfer

to a wild den in northeastern North Carolina.
Red Wolf News

A publication of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

Please address questions and comments to:

Outreach Coordinator

Red Wolf Recovery Program

P.O. Box 1969

Manteo, North Carolina 27954

Email: Redwolf@fws.gov

For more information, visit:

http://alligatorriver.fws.gov

www.fieldtripearth.org

www.redwolves.com

Red Wolf News Summer Summer, 2004

Learn More About Our Educator Resources, Visit:

 http://alligatorriver.fws.gov/redwolf.html

Teacher Workshop Brings the Red Wolf to Classrooms

 Does playing games and tracking red wolves sound like fun to you? Well, it was

all in a day’s work for the sixteen educators from across North Carolina who attended

the first-ever Red Wolf Recovery Teacher Workshop at Pocosin Lakes National

Wildlife Refuge on May 25th. The one-day workshop attracted teachers and park

rangers who were hoping to learn more about the recovery of one of America’s most

endangered mammals and, in the meantime, enhance their curricula and repertoire of

environmental education activities. Participants were especially excited about the

opportunity to scout for signs of red wolves in the wild and pour plaster casts of their

tracks.

 The workshop, which can be counted toward the North Carolina Environmental

Education Certificate and qualifies as a Continuing Education Unit for school

teachers, will be held periodically each year. In exchange for the free workshop, each

participant must commit to teach at least one lesson based on the red wolf curriculum.

“The workshops are mutually beneficial,” explains Outreach Coordinator, Sarah

Krueger, “teachers and red wolves alike profit from the experience.”

A workshop participant prepares to pour

plaster into a wild red wolf track.

Love Connection: Biologists Pair Red

Wolves to Form New Packs

 Red wolves are extremely social animals that rely on their

family groups for survival. The bond between the two breeding

wolves of each family group is vital if a pack wants to establish

and maintain a territory. However, there comes a time when

nearly every red wolf must fend for itself, whether it is a young

wolf dispersing from its natal pack or a red wolf that has lost its

pack mates.

 The lone red wolf is vulnerable to the encroachment of

neighboring packs as well as the threat of pairing with a non-wolf

mate. A red wolf who cannot locate a suitable red wolf mate may

sometimes pair with a coyote or hybrid. If the two animals breed,

they can create a litter of hybrid pups who threaten the integrity

of the red wolf species. If the non-wolf mate has previously been

identified, surgically sterilized and given a radio collar by

Recovery Program biologists, there is hope that the red wolf in

question may be introduced to a more appropriate mate.

 Although the majority of red wolves find suitable mates on

their own, the Red Wolf Recovery Program’s Adaptive

Management Plan to control hybridization calls for the field crew

to occasionally create red wolf pairs in areas where non-wolves

may infringe on the population. In essence, red wolf biologists

sometimes act like match-makers for red wolves, usually lone

wolves who occupy the western most territories of the recovery

area, as these are most at risk for pairing with a non-wolf.

 During the last breeding season, red wolf biologists

attempted four pairings, three of which resulted in successful

pair bonds. One “love story” involves a three year-old female,

11163F, who was occupying a territory in an isolated area that

was not a natural travel corridor for red wolves. Fieldwork

suggested that she did not have a mate and there were concerns

that a non-wolf might attempt to fill the void. Luckily,

biologists picked up two year-old 11188M, who had dispersed

from his natal pack and was traveling an area that was already

crowded with established wolf packs. It was the ideal

opportunity to take a wandering lone male and introduce him to

a female who had established territory in an area devoid of

other known wolves. 11188M was caught and then

immediately released near 11163F. The two wolves soon found

each other and telemetry observations indicate that they have

bonded and are maintaining a territory.

 Of course, the process is not always so simple. Sometimes

matchmakers must work a little harder to make a “love

connection.” Oftentimes, a potential pair will be held during

breeding season for six to eight weeks in captivity and then

released together. Each match-making attempt is slightly

different, depending on the circumstances of the mates-to-be.

Biologists can never force wolves to pair, but it is a technique

that is worth the effort. “Creating pairs is a unique opportunity

to boost red wolf productivity while managing the threat of

hybridization,” explains Recovery Program biologist Michael

Morse. Although red wolves have their share of ill-fated

romance, those pairs that do bond and breed will help the rest

of the red wolf species live “happily ever after.”