They’ll gladly raise those not their own!
One way scientists are trying to save the red wolf population from extinction is to “cross foster” 10-14 day old red wolf pups. Because they are so sparsely distributed, genetic inbreeding is threatening the remaining population.
Wolf biologists have found they can bring two wolf pups from captive populations and replace them with two wolf pups in the wild — as long as both are about 10-14 days old. The parents can obviously smell the new pups are not theirs, but it doesn’t seem to matter. They successfully raise all their pups — and the new pups will bring genetic diversity to their new homes. To learn more, go to Wolf.org — the International Wolf Center.
