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milltailmiles

@milltailmiles

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The Danger of Anthropomorphizing Wildlife:
This is "Romeo", a wolf that some of you may already know. Romeo was an Alaskan gray wolf who gained fame for his friendly interactions with local dogs in Juneau, Alaska. In fact, that's where he got his charming name. Romeo's story would ultimately come to an end when he was killed by poachers. But there's more to it than that. Photographs confiscated from the poachers showed Romeo directly approaching cars in a parking lot, and then photos of the men posing with their poached black wolf.
Prior to Romeo's death, local authorities frequently tried to discourage locals from engaging with this wolf: “There’s the danger of loving this wolf to death.” - Juneau District Ranger Pete Griffin.
Romeo was a wild wolf, but the local community no longer viewed him as a wild animal, and that directly led to his death. In part, I believe Romeo's charming name is what made people forget that this wolf was just an animal who deserved a chance to be wild. Romeo's death was not solely the fault of poaching, but of the people who fed him dog food and taught him that humans were not something to fear.
Romeo's story is not a one-off occurrence. Even today, wildlife frequently suffers the consequences of being anthropomorphized and habituated. But what is anthropomorphizing an animal? When people put human emotions or values on an animal, this is anthropomorphizing. Naming an animal a human name is just one example of anthropomorphizing. Romeo's name certainly played a role in how locals viewed him; he wasn't a wild animal with no other options, he was a sweet lover boy looking for love in locals' dogs. That's not to say naming wild animals is always bad, but it can lead to perceived human traits that are not there. There is a fine line between caring about an animal and loving it to death.
I find Romeo's story very relevant to red wolves, which too face serious threats from being habituated to human presence. The best way to protect red wolves is to give them space, not linger around them, and NEVER feed any wild animals. by @milltailmiles

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14 days ago

Wildlife Crossings
Recently, USFWS announced that 2503F, the breeding female of the Milltail pack, was struck and killed by a vehicle. 2503F was born in 2023, the offspring of 2323M and 2225F.
There has been a lot of mourning for the loss of such an important individual, and a lot of outrage at yet another red wolf dying due to a vehicle strike. Vehicle mortalities have been the leading cause of death for red wolves for the last several years. Online, I see a lot of outrage about vehicle strikes, most of which I feel misses the actual root of the problem.
Wildlife vehicle collisions are often treated like a personal failing, and while driving fast and not being cautious in areas with wildlife can increase the risk of hitting an animal, conversely, driving cautiously and slowly cannot 100% prevent a car from hitting an animal. The mortalities of wildlife along Highway 64 are not the result of individual people deciding they do not care about wildlife, but rather an infrastructure problem. The solution to that problem is wildlife crossings. Highways are not just direct dangers to the animals, but also predator traps. When something like a raccoon is struck on the road, it's an easy food source that may attract any number of wildlife, including red wolves. More animals attracted to the road kill results in more road kills. The wildlife crossings planned to be built along Highway 64 serve two purposes: they directly protect red wolves by giving them safe crossing, and keep the things red wolves like to eat from ending up as roadkill, reducing the risk that red wolves and other predators will linger near the road because it is a food source.
TLDR: Roadkill isn't (entirely) a problem with people being reckless; the core of the problem is large, impassable roads running through wildlife habitat. by @milltailmiles

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16 days ago

Red wolf I did for NCPIRG wildlife crossing campaign poster.
I’ll get back to my regularly scheduled pack posting soon. by @milltailmiles

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22 days ago

For Father's Day, here is a post about an incredible red wolf father.
1199M was one of two red wolf pups fostered in the wild red wolf population in Eastern North Carolina. Him and his sister were the first ever red wolf pups to be fostered into a wild den. He and his sister were fostered into the Tyson Pack in 2002. 1199M went on to become the breeding male of the Beechridge Pack, where he and his mate, wildborn 1162F, produced 36 pups together between 2004 and 2008. 1162F was an incredible female who frequently produced litters of 8-9 pups, and 1199M was an incredible male who successfully raised many of them. In 2006, Beechridge numbered 20 wolves, the breeding pair, 8 collared juveniles (and possibly 1 more that was not collared) from their 2005 litter, and 9 pups of the year. 1162F had produced two litters of 9 pups in a row. The average survival rate of red wolf pups to 1 year old is 50%, but likely all of her 2005 litter was still alive as yearlings in 2006. When the current 2006 litter was 5 months old, some of their older siblings dispersed in the fall, which is part of the normal life cycle of red wolves. 1199M was not only the dominant male of the biggest recorded red wolf pack, but he was also an incredibly successful father who managed to raise multiple large litters with great survival rates.
Video: 1199M when he was still a member of his foster pack, the Tyson Pack. by @milltailmiles

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3 months ago

As summer begins, it's important to remember to respect all wildlife you encounter on national wildlife refuges. Red wolves are especially sensitive to human habitation, but many animals can be negatively affected by people being too close to them. In general, you should remain at a minimum *100 yards* away from red wolves and bears, or about a football field's distance. If animals are approaching you, you should get out of their way.
When animals are too close to people for too long, they can become habituated, losing their fear of humans and cars. Animals that are unafraid of cars and people are more likely to approach roads. The leading cause of death for red wolves for the last few years has been vehicle mortality. Black bears are also victims of habituation.
Generally, even if you are far enough from a wolf or bear, you shouldn't linger around the animal too long. If you are there so long that you begin altering the animal's behavior, you should move on.
It is a privilege to be able to observe these animals in their natural habitat. Always remember to follow posted signs on wildlife refuges, do not enter roads closed to the public, and maintain a safe distance from wildlife.
Photo: 2225F by USFW. by @milltailmiles

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4 months ago

How to tell apart Canids?
Red wolves, coyotes, and gray wolves are all members of the genus Canis found in North America. These animals are all closely related, which means they can often be misidentified as one another. There are many ways to tell these canids apart, but I want to focus on two.
1. Size
Red wolves and gray wolves overlap in size, while coyotes do not overlap in size with either. Most coyotes are around 30 pounds, but some large males may reach around 40 pounds. The smallest female red wolves are 45 pounds, but large females can reach upwards of 70 pounds. Red wolves in general usually range from 50 to 80 pounds. Gray wolves can vary greatly in size based on population, with some populations being smaller or the same size as red wolves (60-80 pounds average, such as Mexican gray wolves or Voyagers wolves). The largest gray wolves may be 120 pounds, with most individuals who were weighed in as heavier than usual being weighed with full stomachs.
2. Skull Morphology/Face Shape
If you look at the three canids, you may notice the differences in their faces. The bottom canid, labelled 3, is a gray wolf, with a wide, boxy head. This boxy appearance is a result of the skull morphology of the animal, with an enlarged sagittal crest that allowed for the attachment of the temporalis muscle. A large sagittal crest and zygomatic arch (the "cheek bone") that's further out are indicators of larger jaw muscles, which are needed for hunting large game. This makes the gray wolf's face look wider and bulkier. Red wolves also have a bulky face, though typically not as wide as a gray wolf's. Red wolves feed on larger prey than coyotes, so they need a bigger head with bigger muscles to do that. The larger temporalis muscle can also be noticed when an animal appears to have more "meat" between its ears and on its forehead.
What should not be used to reliably tell apart canids is coat color. I purposefully chose 3 images that showed 1. a coyote, 2. a red wolf, and 3. a gray wolf with similar coat colors to showcase this point. The bottom gray wolf is often mislabeled as a red wolf online because of its brown fur.
*Note: Skulls are not to scale to each other. by @milltailmiles

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5 months ago

A follow up, a doodle of 331M based on photos of his parents. by @milltailmiles

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6 months ago

Bull Island, 1987.
While red wolves were reintroduced into the wild on Alligator River in 1987, the first time a large carnivore had been reintroduced from complete extinction in the wild, there was another reintroduction site that would prove to be crucial to the survival of the red wolf. In November 1987, 242M and 279F were translocated from Point Defiance Zoo to Bulls Island. The pair were released, and subsequently produced a litter of 4 pups. 2 of these pups, 331M and 332M, survived. Sadly, the female was killed by an alligator while the pups were still young. 242M would raise his pups alone, and when the pups were yearlings (approx 1 year and 9 months old), the "Bull's Island Boys" were moved to Alligator River Wildlife Refuge. They made a shocking debut when they killed 227M, the breeding male of what would one day become the Milltail Pack. 331M would go on to breed with 394F, the daughter of the male he killed, whom he also helped raise after taking over the pack. Our current Milltail wolves directly descend from 331M and 394F.
Back on Bulls Island, 242M was also achieving. In 1989, the male produced another litter with his new mate, 289F. 289F was also killed by an alligator later that summer. In September 1989, Hurricane Hugo hit Bull's Island and "[broke] off every tree on the island at the 10-foot level." 242M and his pups survived the storm. Unfortunately, 242M would die 3 weeks later from injuries he sustained during the storm. However, because their father had successfully raised them (his second time doing so without a mate), they continued to survive, with all pups eventually being transferred to the wild population in Eastern North Carolina. One of his female pups had multiple litters in the wild.
It's been a while since I made a post, so I figured it was about time.
Picture: 242M (with the fat head), 279F, and one of their pups, possibly 331M or 332M.
Thank you to @flhoundsman for finding this photo. by @milltailmiles

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6 months ago

Wolf packs are families, just not always "happy" ones.
A common misconception often spread around by well-meaning people, and recently a very large wolf-related organization, is that wolf packs are just families, comprising a mated pair who mate for life. This is an oversimplification of the reality. Wolf packs are a family unit, typically with a dominant pair at the top. However, this breeding position within the pack is not something that is guaranteed for the rest of an animal's life.
The chance to breed is highly coveted, not only from wolves inside the pack but also by outsiders. It's not uncommon for an unrelated outsider who is stronger and fitter than the current dominant to replace them and become the new dominant in their place. Similarly, sexually mature subordinates may displace a dominant from within the pack. This is what happened in Milltail. 2191M and 2225F were the dominant pair, or "mates," but 2503F, 2225F's daughter, displaced her as the breeding female. Displacement means the most fit animals in a pack are producing the pups. 2191M then produced pups with 2503F, his new mate.
Despite this drama, 2225F is still part of the pack and helps raise her daughter's offspring as a subordinate female.
Wolves have incredibly complex, fascinating social systems. However, they aren't always peaceful. These animals should not have their behavior sanitized as "nicer" to be seen as worthy of protection.
A similar myth that has been spread is that wolves will adopt pups from rival packs. Pup fostering is a conservation method that works because of the strong maternal instincts of a female wolf shortly after giving birth. New dominants will raise the pups of a pack they have recently joined as the new breeder, as it benefits them to do so. To my knowledge, there has not been a documented case of either red wolf or gray wolf packs "adopting" the young pups of a rival pack. Wolves are great parents, but claims about them adopting pups from rival packs seem doubtful, at best.
Video is from 2018, not the 2225F displacement. by @milltailmiles

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8 months ago

Historic Accounts of Red Wolves: Part 2.
What I find very interesting about red wolves is the consistency between historical accounts of size and the sizes we see in these animals today. The size of a red wolf is actually a very important thing.
"The red wolf, like the coyote (prairie wolf), is a solitary nocturnal despoiler. A giant red wolf caught recently weighed 63 pounds." - 1932, https://archive.org/details/zoologytextbookf00chid. This zoology book also differentiates red wolves from coyotes and gray wolves. It's been known for a long time that a unique species, now what we call a red wolf but sometimes called a timber wolf, was the wolf of the east.
Theodore Roosevelt also had a lot to say about red wolves, also detailing their size.
"A Texan wolf may not reach over eighty pounds. The bitch- wolves are smaller, and moreover, there is often great variation even in the wolves of closely neighboring localities." -1922, https://archive.org/details/wildernesshunter04roos.
This size range of 60-80 pounds, and in accordance with one of my previous posts, 40-50 pounds, is very consistent with the size of modern red wolves. Another trend consistent in historic accounts of red wolves is their variety, but I'll go over that in a separate post.
The photo provided is a red wolf specimen from 1934, killed in Madison Parish, Louisiana. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything on the size of this animal, but he was a male, and likely fell into that 60-80 pound range that was reported for this species. by @milltailmiles

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8 months ago

In the meantime, here is a photo I believe is of a 3-year-old 1743F. I'm about 99% sure this is her, as it's from the same time frame she was caught in a paw trap, and this wolf has the very same distinct facial markings. If not her, it's still a cool photo of a red wolf, so win-win.

Photo: USFW by @milltailmiles

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8 months ago

Unique Historic Red Wolves
"The Texas District deports that E. G. Pope caught 6 red wolves, the two middle toes of each of which were grown together." An account from the 1930s reports on a pack of six red wolves taken as part of predator control measures in Texas. All animals in the pack were described as having fused middle toes on all four paws. This is a trait known to occur naturally in a few canid species, such as dholes, African wild dogs, and golden jackals. However, it's also known to happen as a result of inbreeding in North American wolf populations. Modern Mexican gray wolves have recently been reported to have fused middle toes.
All the red wolves in the group were reported to be between 40-50 pounds, with all of them being regarded as larger than usual. The two largest were described as "extremely large, as big as a lobo, with very peculiarly large round feet."
These animals were all taken in Palo Pinto County, Texas, near the farthest west point of the red wolf historic range.
I'll make a separate post about some historic accounts of red wolves and their weight ranges.
Photo: African Wild Dog with cloven paws, taken by Megan Hudson. by @milltailmiles

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9 months ago