The American red wolf is endangered. These ‘ghost genes’ could save it
From NPR:
In honor of Halloween, we’re bringing you a Short Wave ghost story — featuring an animal that has long been the stuff of conservationist legend: the American red wolf.
This small, cinnamon-colored canid roamed free across the American Southeast, preying on deer and small mammals and occupying a key spot in Gulf Coast ecosystems. But early European settlers saw wolves as their enemies – predators that competed with human hunters for game, and that threatened farmers’ livestock and livelihoods.