Food habits of red wolves during pup-rearing season

Abstract

Canis rufus (Red Wolf) is critically endangered, with the only wild population consisting of <150 individuals. Currently, little is known about the food habits of this population. Such information may be vital to managing for the population's long-term persistence. We collected scats of Red Wolves for two consecutive pup-rearing seasons from six packs, classified contents into prey categories, and assessed diet composition for each pack. Five of the six packs studied consumed only mammalian prey items. Adult Odocoileus virginianus (White-tailed Deer) and White-tailed Deer fawns accounted for 3766% of diet of Red Wolves depending on the metric of diet composition. Adult White-tailed Deer and White-tailed Deer fawns accounted for 2183% of the diet of individual packs of Red Wolves according to biomass consumed. Two packs regularly consumed foods associated with humans. Generalized linear modeling indicated that diet varied between packs and was not influenced by reproductive status, nor did diet vary between years.