Diurinal activity patterns
of a pair of captive red wolves
A.S. Moore and R.J. Woods
Illinois State University,
Normal, USA
A century ago, thousands
of red wolves (Canis rufus) ranged over the southeastern United States.
However, by 1980 they were believed to be extinct in the wild. Successful
captive breeding has increased the population of red wolves in the recovery
program to approximately 300. Some of these wolves are housed in zoological
parks and could potentially be selected for release. This study aimed to
characterize the diurnal activities and 24-hour feeding patterns of a pair
of captive red wolves. Observations of a breeding pair, consisting of one
2.5 year old male and a 3.5 year old female, commenced after a four month
acclimatization period to the 46 m x 31 m outside enclosure with adjacent
kennel (4 m x 2.5m). The wolves had ad libitum access to dry dog food and
water in the kennel. Daytime observations (06:00 - 18:00 h) were conducted
at 3-week intervals from October 1993 through March 1994 (9 observations).
Time budgets for lying, sitting, standing, walking and stereotyped pacing
were determined via instantaneous sampling at 1-min intervals. Feeding
patterns were obtained from video recordings of the kennel area during
four separate 72-hour periods. The diurnal activity of the male and female
was highly synchronized with respect to each other. Peak diurnal activity
occurred during the initial
3-h period after sunrise (06:00-09:00) with a second peak during the 3-h
period before sunset
(15:00-18:00). Both wolves
were largely inactive during mid-day (11:00-15:00 h) spending nearly 60%
of the time lying. Stereotyped pacing was most evident in the female who
spent 18.4% of the time between 06:00 and 10:00 h engaged in this activity.
Repetitive pacing in the male peaked between 09:00-11:00 h at 9.0%. Wolves
visited the kennel to eat several small meals throughout the day, averaging
18.5 feeding visits per wolf with a mean daily duration of 10.5 min. The
greatest frequency of feeding visits occurred from 15:00-18:00 h, averaging
6.7 visits per wolf with a second peak of
3.9 occurring between
00:00 and 03:00 h. Wolves were observed drinking water 13.3 times per day
in a temporal pattern similar to that of feeding. Non-feeding/non-drinking
visits were much less frequent averaging 4.0 visits per day for a total
of 0.5 min per day. Neither wolf was ever observed resting in the kennel.
Activity data from this preliminary study will be used to aid in the development
and assessment of an enriched environment for captive red wolves.