Endangered Wolves Born at Chattanooga Nature Center

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Blightwolf
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Endangered Wolves Born at Chattanooga Nature Center

Post by Blightwolf » Wed May 11, 2011 11:54 am

Endangered Wolves Born at Chattanooga Nature Center
May 10, 2011

Red wolves, one of the most endangered mammals in the United States have something to howl about! Two female pups were born recently at the Chattanooga Nature Center (CNC.) There are only around 300 red wolves in the world.

“We are excited that the Nature Center has been successful in our endeavor to help bring a species back from the brink of extinction,” Dr. Jean Lomino, CNC Executive Director, said. “It is really significant for our region because the southeastern U.S. was once home for these animals—they are a part of our natural heritage.”

The pups are the offspring of a seven-year old female and six-year old male. The new parents arrived at CNC in 2009 and have been together during two breeding seasons.

“We had been suspicious of a pregnancy but red wolves don’t get obviously large,” Tish Gailmard, CNC Wildlife Curator said. “The one indicator is the pulling of belly fur which can occur 2 days to 2 weeks before birth. After we saw pulled belly fur, it was about 12 days later when the pups were born.”

The pups currently live in a den with their parents off exhibit; however a monitor is set up in the CNC Visitor Center where people can view live footage. You can also visit chattanooganaturecenter.org for updated pictures or visit the CNC Facebook page.

The red wolf is one of the top ten most endangered mammals on earth. CNC is one of forty facilities in the world that house these animals and has been part of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service Red Wolf Species Survival Plan (RWSSP) since 1996. RWSSP was established to build the red wolf population.

“All red wolf pup births are extremely important and these pups are no different,” Gailmard said. “Both parents are among the most genetically valuable red wolves in the captive population which creates valuable pups.”

Another red wolf pair gave birth at CNC in 2007. The litter consisted of three males and two females. Two of the males still reside at CNC in an exhibit enclosure while the two females have been placed at another facility and one male lives in the wild at an island propagation site.

Source: http://www.newschannel9.com/news/wolves ... -born.html
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Re: Endangered Wolves Born at Chattanooga Nature Center

Post by wolfyattitude » Wed May 11, 2011 11:57 am

That's good then. Hopefully in the near future this beautiful species will be taken off the engangered species list. Thanks for sharing!
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Re: Endangered Wolves Born at Chattanooga Nature Center

Post by Koa » Thu May 12, 2011 5:32 pm

-moved to Wolf Conservation-

This is wonderful news, Blightwolf!
wolfyattitude wrote:That's good then. Hopefully in the near future this beautiful species will be taken off the engangered species list. Thanks for sharing!
That could take awhile - it would be great and it would certainly be a feat, but I'm not too sure it would happen anytime soon.

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Re: Endangered Wolves Born at Chattanooga Nature Center

Post by Blightwolf » Thu May 12, 2011 10:32 pm

This is indeed lovely news; a step towards recovery - even if these pups were born in captivity.
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