Durham's Museum Of Life And Science Celebrates Birth Of 7 Endangered Red Wolf Pups

'We're howling with excitement!'

The Museum of Life and Science in Durham, North Carolina is celebrating the birth of seven critically endangered red wolf pups.

Museum staff are calling the new litter "a beacon of hope for the species and a significant milestone in our conservation efforts." The museum last welcomed a new litter in 2019, and there are fewer than 300 red wolves remaining between zoos and the wild. Because they are critically endangered, zoos exchange and breed red wolves to maintain genetic diversity through a program called Saving Animals From Extinction (SAFE).

“This is truly thrilling for the species and the Museum,” Sherry Samuels, the senior director of Animal Care, stated in a news release. “As we face challenges in the wild population, institutions within Red Wolf SAFE, like ours, hold a significant responsibility. Each pup born is crucial for the species’ survival and offers hope for the broader Red Wolf population.”

The museum's 5-year-old female, Oak, gave birth to four male and three female pups on April 21. Samuels said the pups are healthy and will probably start to emerge from the den in late May. Red wolves are reserved around crowds and loud noises, so “patience and quiet observation will be key when observing our new pups.” You can buy tickets to the museum—which also features indoor science exhibits, a farmyard, black bears, and lemurs—at lifeandscience.org.

Oak was born in Raleigh in 2019 and has been at the museum since 2022, while the father, Adeyha, came in 2023 from a zoo in Illinois. Red wolves once roamed the wild from New York to Texas, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Now it's believed there are only 18 or 20 left in the wild, all in eastern North Carolina.

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