A red wolf is an animal rather peculiar in appearance. Red long hair, a fluffy tail, a narrow muzzle and large ears make it look like a wolf, jackal and fox at the same time. The degree of rarity is very different in animals from different ranges of the range. So much so that before they were even considered different species. Wolves from the more southerly regions are usually brighter, some individuals are actually almost red, the northern ones have a dimmer, rusty-gray color.
The red wolf lives only in Asia. His favorite habitats are the mountains (the second name for the beast is the mountain wolf). It goes rather high – up to the alpine belt. In some areas it occurs in the forests, and when moving, it can appear in the steppe and even in the desert. The main part of its range is located in Indochina, it is found in Sumatra and Java, India and other areas of Central and South Asia. With its fairly extensive range, the beast is nowhere numerous. He had long and firmly “registered” in the Red Books of all ranks. At us he met in the Far East, in Sayans, in Central Asia. Today in Russia, the “red dog”, most likely, is no longer there, only rare visits of individual animals or small flocks to its territory occur.
The reasons for the disappearance of this wonderful beast are many. Of course, one of them is a man. The wolf is affected not even by direct extermination (it is not so annoying people as his gray fellow, very rarely attacks pets and never – on a human), but a sharp reduction in the amount of predator basic food – ungulates. Another possible reason for the decline in numbers is the tiger. The fact is that the tiger really does not like wolves and dogs. Local dogs are afraid of the tiger as fire. Where there is a tiger, there is no wolf. And where there is no tiger – the wolf may well settle. The gray wolf is noticeably larger, stronger and more aggressive than red and quickly displaces it from the best places.
Perhaps, there are other natural, unknown to the scientists, reasons for the deplorable state of the “red dog” population. In ancient times, judging by paleontological remains, red wolves were almost as numerous as gray wolves. And in not very ancient ones, too, was a lot – remember R. Kipling and his “Red Dog Dean, whose hair grows between the fingers.” These terrible beasts, who hunt in huge packs, catching the fear of all the inhabitants of the jungle, even the wise elephant and the mighty bear – it’s the red wolves!
