An extremely rare litter of critically endangered red wolf pups has been born in the wild for the second time in five years. The wolf parents have also adopted a captive-bred pup into the new brood for the first time, further raising hopes that the species can be saved from extinction.
The litter consists of three females and two males and was born in early April in Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Red Wolf Recovery Program (RWRP). The RWRP announced the news May 10 on Facebook, along with images of the adorable pups.
