The Roger Williams Park Zoo recently announced the birth of the world’s most endangered canid species, a Red Wolf pup. They have been working tirelessly on their breeding program to help keep the species around/
The pup was brought into this world on May 5th by Brave, its six-year-old mom who has been carefully attending to her little ones’ every need.
The historic birth shows a glint of hope for the survival of the species, only 15-20 red wolves are left in the wild, all of which can be found in eastern North Carolina.
Vets and zookeepers are keeping a close eye on the pair through an infrared camera which is located in the wolves’ new birthing den. Although they seem to be okay and the pup is continuing to gain weight at a steady rate the next few months will be imperative to its survival.
The father, seven-year-old Diego is now in the wolves’ North American habitat, the mother and pup will likely remain in the den for a few weeks. Visitors may be able to catch a sight of them when they start to venture outside.
However, if you want to keep up to date you can follow them on Instagram for all the pupdates.
The red wolves get their name from their red-tinged fur and are small than the more popular grey wolf but are larger than coyotes. They mainly prey on small mammals like rabbits and raccoons but have been known to hunt for deer. To communicate they use a multitude of methods like howling, facial expressions, scent marking and body posture.
Back in 1980, the red wolves were listed as extinct in the wild and it was through the collaborative effort of Associations of Zoos and Aquariums’ (AZA) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that the last 14 red wolves were brought into zoos. The aim of this was to establish a captive breeding program with the main goal of reintroducing them back into the wild once a strong foundation had been established.
Thanks to their collaborative efforts the red wolf population has increased from 14 to almost 250!
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