Phylogenetic Tree of Carnivora
The evolution of the wolf is not clearly understood. Scientists can only speculate so much about how they branched out and what their common ancestor is. Many of these species really just branched not long ago. No real time in know when the Red wolves closets relatives including the gray wolf and coyote branched out of. On the picture on the right all the species of canids are connected except for the red wolf. The red wolf's origin is still not known. Scientists speculate that the red wolf is not a real species at all. And that It is just a hybrid from the Gray wolf and the coyote. Another theory Is that the red wolf is just a variety pf Pleistocene wolf which became geographically isolated from other populations and now is a very confined species. Others theorize that it is a true species unique to North America, which once had a very larger distribution than it has today. But retreated to the southeastern portion of the country once the Gray wolf started moving south. And although the red wolf has been kept as a true species, most of the red wolves that are "pure" certainly have at least some coyote ancestry. The Red wolf gene pool was in recent history flooded with coyote influence do to the fact that it was hard for the Red wolves finding mates of their own species. This occurred because the humans had killed so many of the "true" red wolves, and coyotes were much more able to survive the hunting. If hybridization had not occurred between coyotes and the red wolf, all trace of the red wolf would have been completely lost, as the numbers became almost extinct.