Animal keepers at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham are keeping their fingers crossed that one of their red wolves is pregnant. The red wolf is extremely rare. There’re only about 300 estimated to be alive today. 2 of them are at the museum. And keepers have been excited the past few weeks because the female wolf has changed her behavior and and is looking a bit chubbie.
Sherry Samuels, the museum’s animal department director, worried that might be wishful thinking:"But yesterday, we saw her belly looked like it was starting to get bare, and one of the last things red wolves do before they give birth is they pull off their belly fur giving pups access to the nipples. That’s sort of an indication that, yeah, this really could be happening."
A litter of red wolves varies from around 2 to 9 pups. Samuels says the birth would be some time in the next week or two if the wolf is in fact pregnant.