This website uses cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. Learn more

Red River Valley Museum

x
Red River Valley Museum
Red River Valley Museum
Red River Valley Museum
Red River Valley Museum
Red River Valley Museum
Red River Valley Museum
Red River Valley Museum
Red River Valley Museum
Red River Valley Museum
Red River Valley Museum
Red River Valley Museum
Red River Valley Museum
Red River Valley Museum
Red River Valley Museum
Red River Valley Museum
Red River Valley Museum
Red River Valley Museum
Red River Valley Museum
Phone:
+1 940-553-1848

Hours:
SundayClosed
MondayClosed
Tuesday10:30am - 5pm
Wednesday10:30am - 5pm
Thursday10:30am - 5pm
Friday10:30am - 5pm
Saturday10:30am - 2:30pm


The red wolf also known as the Florida black wolf or Mississippi Valley wolf, is a canid native to the southeastern United States of unresolved taxonomic identity. Morphologically it is intermediate between the coyote and gray wolf, and is of a reddish, tawny color. The Red Wolf is a federally listed endangered species of the United States and is protected by law. It has been listed by IUCN as a critically endangered species since 1996. It is considered the rarest species of wolf and is one of the five most endangered species of canid in the world.Red wolves may have been the first New World wolf species encountered by European colonists, and were originally distributed throughout the eastern United States from the Atlantic Ocean to central Texas, and in the north from the Ohio River Valley, northern Pennsylvania and southern New York south to the Gulf of Mexico. The red wolf was nearly driven to extinction by the mid-1900s due to aggressive predator-control programs, habitat destruction, and extensive hybridization with coyotes. By the late 1960s, it occurred in small numbers in the Gulf Coast of western Louisiana and eastern Texas. Fourteen of these survivors were selected to be the founders of a captive-bred population, which was established in the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium between 1974 and 1980. After a successful experimental relocation to Bulls Island off the coast of South Carolina in 1978, the red wolf was declared extinct in the wild in 1980 to proceed with restoration efforts. In 1987, the captive animals were released into the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge on the Albemarle Peninsula in North Carolina, with a second release, since reversed, taking place two years later in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Of 63 red wolves released from 1987–1994, the population rose to as many as 100–120 individuals in 2012, but has declined to 40 individuals in 2018.The red wolf's taxonomic status is the subject of ongoing debate. Genetic studies provide two theories about wolves in North America. The first theory proposes that there exists only two-species - grey wolves and coyotes . These produced hybrids, including the Great Lakes wolf, the eastern coyote, the eastern wolf, and the red wolf. The second theory proposes that there exists three species – the addition of the eastern wolf as the species C. lycaon, with the red wolf being the same species. Hybrids include the Great Lakes wolf that are the product of grey wolf × eastern wolf hybridization, and eastern coyotes that are the result of eastern wolf × western coyote hybridization. However, based on morphology the red wolf is considered as the separate species Canis rufus, with possible fossils dating back to 10,000 years ago. The debate remains unresolved.
Continue reading...
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Attraction Location



Red River Valley Museum Videos

Shares

x

More Attractions in Vernon Texas

x

Menu