The red wolf is twice as big as a coyote and about half the size of a gray wolf. Adult females average 52 pounds and adult males average 61 pounds. Their name comes from their reddish-brown hair coat.
Red wolves have tall, pointed ears and long legs with big feet.
Range Historically, red wolves were found throughout the southeastern United States. Their current mainland range is eastern North Carolina at the Alligator River National Wildlife refuge and eastern Tennessee in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. A few red wolves have also been reintroduced to small islands off the coasts of South Carolina, Florida, and Mississippi. History Red wolves were eliminated in the southeastern United States by trapping, poisoning, shooting, and destruction of critical habitat. By the mid-1960s the few remaining red wolves were restricted to isolated areas along the Gulf coast of Louisiana and Texas.