Oklahoma has a wide diversity of animals due to its warm and humid climate and twelve diverse subareas, including low marshes in the south, high grasslands in the west, rainforests in the east, and great plains in the far north, to name just a few.
Studies show that Oklahoma may be home to more than 700 different animal species including wolves. However, at this time, are there wolves in Oklahoma wildlife?
The gray and red wolf are the only two wolf species native to Oklahoma. However, they were exterminated by humans about 50 years ago.
The only surviving wolves are currently in breeding facilities all over the United States.
This article contains all that you need to know about wolves in this South Central U.S. state.
Are There Wolves in Oklahoma Wildlife?
According to research, there aren’t any wolves at the moment in Oklahoma. In Oklahoma, wolves come in just two different species; the red and the gray wolves.
In the 1930s, these types of wolves were exterminated due to bounty hunting in the state, wrecked bison populations, and decreased deer populations.
The state had a robust red wolf population before the middle of the 19th century. Wildlife specialists suggest that timber wolves and coyotes mated to produce red wolves.
However, the last red wolves were captured by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Oklahoma in 1980 so that they could be used in a breeding facility to prevent the extermination of the entire species.
Seven years later, the conservation authorities reintroduced the red wolves in coupling pairs, but their ranks never increased.
In the mid to late 1930s, gray wolves were eradicated from Oklahoma. The Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge records some of the most recent ones.
What Types of Wolves are Indigenous to Oklahoma?
Gray Wolf (Canis lupus)
Appearance and Features
The term “Gray Wolf” refers to the hue of their shaggy, gray fur punctuated by flicks of yellow and red. Their fur has a somewhat “washed-up” appearance.
Gray wolves weigh between 75 and 125 pounds as adults. In exceptional conditions, male gray wolves can grow to reach as much as 175 pounds, making them bigger than females.
Gray wolves have shoulder lengths that range from 27 to 32 inches. When standing straight, the four to five-inch-long hairs in their mane give them the appearance of being taller.
From the bridge of the nose to the tail, a gray wolf can measure somewhere around 50 and 70 inches long. The width of its tail is one-third of this measurement.
A wolf’s torso is slimmer, and its legs are longer than a huge dog’s. As a result of their thin chests, their left and right feet are more closely spaced apart than a dog’s.
Range
Wolves were once found throughout Eurasia to North America.
Due to cattle predation and human attacks by wolves, persistent human subjugation has, unfortunately, limited the animals’ territory by around one-third.
Much of Europe, North America, the Japanese islands, and the British Isles have all experienced local extermination of the species.
The gray wolf has recently been found in rugged and remote locations, mainly in the USA, Canada, Alaska, Asia, and Europe.
Habitat
Wildlife experts have discovered that gray wolves typically have the longest range of any land animal (apart from human beings).
Except for tropical forests, gray wolves have inhabited every ecosystem in the Northern Hemisphere. In addition to difficult terrain, gray wolves frequently live in woods, arctic, and grasslands.
Threat to Existence
A significant threat to the existence of gray wolves is their illegal slaughter.
The species is still under threat from loss of habitat, human rivalry for cattle and wildlife species, and worries about wolves’ potential threat to society.
Conservation Status
Numerous organizations and projects for wolf conservation are working to protect wolves all around the world.
Due to regulatory restrictions, changes in land utilization, and regional human species transfers to cities, wolf population reductions have been halted since the 1970s.
This has encouraged repopulation and restoration in some of its previous territories.
Red Wolf (Canis Rufus)
The red wolf (Canis Rufus) is the least common and most threatened of all the wolf species.
Many parts of eastern North America, including Texas, Florida, and Pennsylvania, are assumed to have been part of the red wolf’s distribution habitat.
Based on more research, it is currently believed that the red Wolf’s historic range included parts of Canada and the northeast USA.
The red wolf, however, has been in danger of going extinct for the past century due to violence, ecological damage, and binary mixtures with coyotes.
Appearance and Features
The red wolf is a standard-size canine that is bigger than the coyote but shorter and slimmer than the gray wolf.
Male red wolves are approximately 4.5 to 5.5 feet long, 15 to 16 inches tall at the shoulder, and weigh 40 to 80 pounds.
A silky reddish coat, a silver-gray forehead, deeper markings on its white legs, and a cream-colored underside are all characteristics of the red wolf. Both the red wolf’s ears and legs are very lengthy.
Range
Most of the eastern part of the United States used to be home to these gregarious, pack wolves.
It used to inhabit coastal environments, marshes, swamps, and the enormous oak woods that once covered much of the south-eastern United States.
Only around 25 of their species still exist in the wild today. As a result, only five districts in North Carolina and several National Wildlife Refuges are currently home to the red wolf.
Habitats
Forests, marshes, coastal plains, and hills are where you can find the red wolves in the wild. Red wolves can adapt to any region.
Threat to Existence
The red wolf is threatened by the loss of habitat brought on by human civilization and by attitudes that obstruct recovery.
Coyote hybridizations pose the biggest challenge to the species’ existence. The red wolf population has decreased recently, and coyote and coyote-red wolf hybrids have mostly taken their place throughout most of its habitat.
Conservation Status
As part of the first island breeding experiment in the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in 1987, about 100 were released back into the wild.
The second island replication project got underway with the introduction of a species on Horn Island in 1989.
Due to the possibility of contact with humans, the government relocated these species in 1998.
In 1990, the third island propagation project established a population on St. Vincent Island in Florida. In 1997, the fourth island propagation project established a population on Cape St. George Island in Florida.
Statistics reveal that there are up to 220 red wolves held in captivity.
What States in the U.S. Have Wolves?
Gray Wolf Population United States
Over 13,000 gray wolves, sometimes called timber wolves, are thought to exist in the United States, with Alaska being home to the vast bulk of them.
Gray wolves can be observed in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana in the Northern Rockies, and there is evidence that they have started to move into Oregon and northern California.
Red Wolf Population United States
The government formally declared the species’ extinction in the wild in 1980.
Initially discovered from Eastern Houston to the Eastern Shore and as far north as Southern New York, their habitat had been reduced to coastline Texas by 1970.
Northern North Carolina is now home to 220 red wolves held in captivity.
Red wolves nearly completely vanished from the US, due to human activities like pollution, hunting, and slaughtering.
This is because early settlers carried with them a deep hatred and resentment for wolves, and the fact that wolves can anger livestock farmers by devouring their cattle.
Since they harmed livestock, red wolves have been targeted for years as a pest management measure. Because people had encroached on their domain, infrastructure projects also affected wolves.
Studies also show that humans wiped out the red wolves species during the time of rabies control efforts.
As long as people continue endangering wolves by slaughtering them or wiping out their habitat, wolves will remain at risk of extinction.
Wrap Up
Oklahoma was once teeming with wolves, but that was a thing of the past due to human interference.
However, efforts are being made, and steps have been taken to restore the population of wolves in Oklahoma wildlife.
They are thus, mostly restricted to the locations where people choose to reestablish them, although the population appears to be gradually increasing and will later spread.
With multiple healthy and increasing wolf populations, these animals are undoubtedly thriving better than they did five decades ago.
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Featured Image Credit: Jeanro / Getty Images
