Height 15 in. 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.
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. R ed wolves were reintroduced at the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina in 1986.