Ecological Importance
Key Factor In its Habitat
Red wolves are umbrella species, a valuable ecological role simply meaning that they increase the overall natural health of the ecosystem they are in. The wolves do this by keeping the population of other species, specifically small prey, in check. This action increases their habitats biodiversity. Biodiversity is a highly important in order to boost the flow of the ecosystem including giving every single species an important role. Having a species like this in an ecosystem is vital to its success, for it encourages genetic diversity and strength, and any leftover animal remains help to fertilise plants in the area, which also helps the herbivores of the ecosystem (Why Are Red Wolves Important, 2019).
The experimental population of 45 red wolves in North Carolina continue to hunt down and kill prey, such as white-tailed deer, raccoons and smaller mammals such as rabbits, rodents and nutria. That is one of the main ecological services that the red wolf provides, they get rid of rodents which humans tend to despise. Believe it or not these nuisance species and rodents can mess up ecosystems greatly causing mudslides and unnatural negative impacts on the environment. The natural chain reaction resulting from this process ends up to be beneficial towards farmers and the human population as less crops are being eaten and destroyed by different rodents; these rodents also spread disease and have the bothersome and possibly dangerous ability to destroy electrical systems. When the red wolf hunts and consumes these rodents, they are providing an extremely beneficial service to the humans who continue to stigmatize them, making it unnecessary and unwise for humans to hunt and kill them off. We should be appreciating the red wolves and all of their values, but instead we continue to kill them off and further destroy their habitat.
