Science / Medicine : Study Indicates Red Wolf Not Unique, but a Hybrid

In a study that raises questions about federal efforts to save the endangered red wolf, University of California researchers last week reported new genetic evidence suggesting that the animal is not a distinct species but a hybrid between the coyote and the gray wolf. Molecular biologists Robert K. Wayne of UCLA and Susan M. Jenks of UC Berkeley reported in the journal Nature that their examination of genetic material from red wolves shows that interbreeding with coyotes or gray wolves has obliterated the animal’s status as a separate species--if it ever was one.

While coyotes and gray wolves exhibit clear genetic differences, the researchers found that red wolves have no unique features and are classifiable as either coyotes or gray wolves. The researchers looked not only at red wolves kept in captive-breeding programs in zoos, but also at genetic material taken from pelts dating back to 1905--before extensive interbreeding with coyotes was thought to have occurred--and concluded that all were hybrids formed by cross-breeding of coyotes and gray wolves.

The last wild red wolves were captured in 1970 after their population had been decimated by destruction of habitat, predator control programs and interbreeding with coyotes.

The animal was classified as endangered in 1967, but hybrids are not supposed to be eligible for special federal protection under the Endangered Species Act. Despite their study’s finding, Wayne and Jenks urged continued protection for the red wolf because its reintroduction “would restore an essential component of the fauna.”