Besides a red or tawny phase from which the red wolf gets its common name, there is a black phase which gives the animal its scientific name niger.

        “Wolves of this color were abundant near Henderson, Kentucky, when we removed to that place, and we saw then frequently during our rambles through the woods,” wrote John James Audobon, the famous 19th century naturalist.

        “Once when we were traveling on foot not far from the southern boundary of Kentucky, we fell in with a Black Wolf, following a man with a rifle on his shoulders. On speaking with him about this animal, he assured us that it was as tame and as gentle as any dog, and that he had never met with a dog that could trail a deer better. We were so much struck with… the noble appearance of the wolf, that we offered him one hundred dollars for it; but the owner would not part with him for any price.”

        Intermediate in size between the gray or timber wolf and the coyote or prairie wolf, the red wolf once ranged from Florida to Texas, and up th Mississippi Valley to Illinois and Indiana. Subject to the same persecution as its two close relatives, it is now fast disappearing, and is found only in a small area west of the Mississippi.

        William Bartram described this unique American species in 1791, after seeing examples of the now extinct Florida race.

        “The wolves of Florida are larger than a dog,” wrote the Philadelphia naturalist, “and are perfectly black, except the females, which have a white spot on the breast, but they are not so large as the wolves of Canada and Pennsylvania, whch are a yellowish brown color.”

        Bartram further noted that the wolves “assemble in companies in the night time, howl and bark together, especially in cold winter nights, which is terrifying to the wandering bewildered traveller.”

        The more plentiful of the two surviving races is the Texas red wolf (C.N. rufus), only slightly bigger than a coyote.

      Shoulder height 24-30 in. Weight 50-80 lbs. Range: E. Texas, W. Louisiana, Oklahoma. Characteristic: red phase tawnier than wolf or coyote.