Responses to the Environment

Canis rufus is an endangered species that has been historically found from Texas to Pennsylvania ("Red wolf," n.d.). Red wolves are large canine creatures that are about 4 feet long and are about 26 inches in height. They are generally between a gray wolf and a coyote in terms of their size. They are characterized by their distinct reddish-brown coat, short ears, and their wide heads.

Taxonomical Classification

Domain: Eukarya

Kingdom - Animalia

Phylum - Chordata

Class - Mammalia

Order - Carnivora

Family - Canidae

Genus - Canis

Species - Canis rufus

("ADW: Canis Rufus: Classification," n.d.)

There has been controversy surrounding whether or not the red wolf should be a separate taxonomical classification. However, many scientists still consider it as a separate species, meaning it is deserving of its own classification. Red wolves are in the domain Eukarya, meaning that the organism has a nucleus. They are also in the kingdom Animalia which means that they are animals. This also means that they share the characteristic of being a multicellular, heterotrophic organism, that have motility and lack a cell wall. Heterotrophic organisms are organisms which derive their energy from other organic substances They are in the phylum Chordata, which means that they possess a structure known as a notochord during development. They are also in the class Mammalia meaning that their offspring are nourished by milk from the mother's mammary glands. This essentially means that they are mammals.

Red wolves are in the order Carnivora, meaning that they are carnivores and eat meat. Red wolves are in the family Canidae, which is a group of carnivorous mammals all closely related to dogs. More specifically, these are other wolves, jackals, foxes, coyotes, and domestic species of dogs. They are in the genus Canis, which includes larger species of members of Canidae. These animals are generally characterized by shorter ears, long legs, and large skulls. The species of the red wolf is Canis rufus, which are wolves that are characterized by the reddish-brown coat. ("ADW: Canis Rufus: Classification," n.d.)

Response to Changes in Environment

Parent-Offspring Interactions

Red wolves generally are a social animal that live in packs. These packs generally include an adult pair and offspring of different ages. These parents provide food for the offspring, while some of the older offspring help with pup rearing. More specifically, these offspring help take on some of the tasks of taking care of the rest of the pack, as they prepare to leave the pack when they turn one or two years old ("Red wolf," n.d.).

Signaling Behaviors

Red wolves are most active during the night and their signaling often occurs in the form of vocalizations that also occur during the night. These vocalizations, known as howling are used in combination with other facial expressions and physical actions to attract a mate. One of the most common behaviors of a red wolf trying to attract a mate is that they will try to assert dominance. Generally, the alpha female rather than the alpha male will try to take total dominance. This is because this helps avoid overpopulation, because it allows no other pairs of wolves to mate ("Wolf country, reproduction, bonding and mating," n.d.).

Courtship Behaviors

Red wolves court each other by first bonding. This bonding process involves close relationships that generally entail sleeping together, approaching each other making quiet whining sounds, touching noses, and bumping their bodies together. They may even playfully bite each other. These behaviors can be considered innate behaviors since red wolves are genetically predisposed to following this process. Innate behavior can be defined as any behavior which an animal can perform without learning (learned behavior) in response to a stimulus. In this case, the cue would be the dominance of the alpha female in the pack ("Wolf country, reproduction, bonding and mating," n.d.).

Mating Behaviors

Red wolves generally mate during the winter and have a gestation period between 60-63 days. They often produce smaller litter sizes, but a general range for a red wolf litter's size is between 2-8 pups. Red wolves only have one mating pair per pack and this pair is generally the alpha pair. This system helps prevent overpopulation within the pack ("Red wolf - Canis Rufus - NatureWorks," n.d.). After the pair mates, the other members of the pack will help take care of the young and bring food for the female.

Climate Change:

In more recent years, climate change has impacted the small population of red wolves to have expanded their ranges. This was to expand their source of food ("Modeling potential impacts of climate change on the distribution of wooly wolf (Canis lupus chanco)," n.d.).

Observation of the Red Wolf for Behavioral Sampling:

A possible method of observing red wolf populations would be to travel to the Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula in North Carolina. This would involve tagging species and tracking their behavior. This tagging process would occur in conjunction with video taping, which would allow for visual observation along with an overall tracking of the species. This method would work particularly well within the red wolf population, since they only exist within a small area.

These tracking devices would prove to be particularly useful for tracing the animal's range, but there are still other factors which are important to measure. These factors include the behavior of the animal, the interactions between the environment and the red wolf, and the interactions between red wolves themselves. Some potential methods would include physical observation of behavior through a method called focal sampling. This method involves observation of a red wolf during a set time period. In this method, the observer would write down everything that occurs during a time period, which would allow for observation of multiple behavioral factors. However, in this interval alone, the researcher may not be able to observe everything about the species itself.

This lends itself to another method, known as scan sampling. In this method, the researcher can observe the red wolf across multiple short intervals to potentially observe natural interactions between the animals and their environment and would allow for multiple different samples (OSC, 2023).

In order to record the behavior observed for the red wolf, an ethogram could be used. An ethogram is a table used to record the behavior observed within a species.

In the case of the red wolf, the best method for observation would be a combination of these methods, as they would be able to account for variations and provide different types of data.

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