Saint Francis University Biology Department

06/15/2026

Congratulations, Sydney!

Congratulations to the Class of 2026 Medical Laboratory Science graduates - Tyler C. Gianna, Sydney, Maria, Tyler S, and Sarah! Welcome to five out of the six graduates as you start you employment with Conemaugh! Job well done!

06/08/2026

Red Wolves are critically endangered. While they ranged across most of the Eastern United States a few centuries ago, only about 25 individuals remain in the wild, with another 200-250 in zoos. That's all that we have left.

Some sources of their severe decline are straightforward but difficult to resolve: habitat destruction and human-animal conflict. Red Wolves can occupy a variety of habitats. However, because they have large home ranges, and because males, in particular, are prone to long distance dispersal, they need large, contiguous, unfenced habitat where they can live safely and travel. Needless to say, that is very difficult to come by in the Eastern United States. Conflict with humans is also a major issue. These are pack hunters, and can take down animals larger than themselves (e.g. white-tailed deer) along with smaller animals. Farmers and pet owners have long persecuted them due to the perceived threat to their animals.

Another conservation challenge is hybridization. Red Wolves readily hybridize with coyotes. In the last remaining wild population, it can be difficult to find a red wolf mate. Furthermore, species isolating barriers between red wolves and coyotes are incomplete because coyotes only reappeared in the Eastern US in the last century or so. As a result, most of our remaining red wolves have substantial coyote genes in their genome. If this continues, the two species may eventually merge, spelling the end to the canonical red wolf.

There's one silver lining to the hybridization, however. Researchers have identified red wolf "ghost alleles" in some Texas coyote populations. These alleles, if returned to red wolf lineages through breeding programs or, potentially, gene editing, may help replenish some of the red wolf genetic diversity that was lost during their severe decline.

So, what is being done to save them? That's the subject of our next post!
Photo Credit: Annah Lovette ('25), 2024, Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina.

06/08/2026

Congratulations to Ava Cioffari for placing third in the Gunard B. Carlson Memorial Foundation/Saint Francis University Creative Writing Contest!

06/08/2026

There are only 25 red wolves left in the wild. Read that number again. Twenty-five. That is the entire wild population of one of North America's most critically endangered predators — and it makes every single birth anywhere in the world a genuinely significant event.
On May 12, at the Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington, Illinois, four red wolf pups were born.
Their parents, Magnolia and Max, are first-time parents — and right now the zoo is giving the entire family exactly what they need most: quiet, space, and time in their den to bond without interruption. That stillness is intentional. Encouraging natural pack behaviours from the very beginning is part of how this works, and staff are letting the family write their own first chapter without interference.
Here is why those four pups matter far beyond one zoo in Illinois.
The red wolf was once declared extinct in the wild. Conservation programs pulled the species back from that edge, but the numbers have never fully recovered. Today, roughly 25 individuals remain in wild populations, making managed breeding initiatives the critical safety net standing between this species and permanent disappearance. The Miller Park Zoo participates in the Saving Animals From Extinction program — a coordinated effort to preserve genetic diversity and rebuild populations that were once brought to the brink entirely by human activity.
These four pups are not just a feel-good story. They are genetic investments in a species that cannot afford to lose a single individual.
To give them the best possible foundation, the pups will stay with Magnolia and Max for 16 to 17 months — mirroring the natural timeline wild wolf pups would follow to learn essential survival skills from their parents and pack. When that period is complete, they will be transferred to other facilities to form their own packs and continue the work of keeping the red wolf from disappearing entirely.
Four pups. Two first-time parents. One species with 25 wild individuals left.
The math is fragile, and the stakes are real. Share this because these four are not just a milestone — they are part of the reason there might still be red wolves a generation from now.

06/05/2026

There is longstanding debate about whether the Red Wolf is a true species, a subspecies, or a hybrid. A 2019 National Academies publication carefully reviewed the scientific literature and found that red wolves are a separate evolutionary lineage from gray wolves and coyotes...with a caveat. The current remaining population of red wolves has hybridized extensively with coyotes, so the current individuals that we describe as red wolves have substantial amounts of coyote genetic material. Nevertheless, there are genetic signatures in our current red wolves that are distinct from coyotes, which supports the idea that they have a longstanding separation. The rampant hybridization may be attributed to fact that coyotes disappeared from the eastern united states about 10,000 years ago, and only returned during the 1900's. When coyotes reappeared in red wolf habitat, the two species did not have complete reproductive isolating barriers (behavior, etc) to prevent hybridization. Nevertheless, there remain key morphological and behavioral differences between coyotes and red wolves, along with remaining genetic differences, such that most scientists consider them separate species.

The fact that they are separate species has important conservation implications: red wolves are critically endangered. More on conservation and their future in our next post.

Photo credit: ucumari photography

06/04/2026

Red Wolves (_Canis rufus_) are the smallest of the "wolf" species, and are intermediate between gray wolves and coyotes. As their name implies, their fur typically has reddish hues mixed with grays, blacks, and whites. Compared to the stockier gray wolf, red wolves are comparatively long-limbed and slender, which corresponds to their mobility. A 2016 PLoS One study found that resident red wolves maintain home ranges between 25-190 square kilometers. Transient individuals, however, moved across areas spanning 122 to 681 square kilometers--that's approximately the size of Chicago's city limits! They have proportionally large ears compared to other canids. Finally, Red Wolves possess some skull and brain characteristics that indicate that they may be more similar to ancestral wolves than some other _Canis_ species.

Next up: are they really their own species?

Photo credit: Steve Hillebrand, USFWS

06/03/2026

06/03/2026

Go Red Wolves! Over the next few days, we'll be doing a series of posts about the interesting real animal behind our new mascot. Do you have questions? Please post them here and we will try to answer them!

🐺 A new era begins.

Today, Saint Francis University officially unveiled the Red Wolves—our new athletics identity as we prepare for the transition to NCAA Division III competition in Fall 2026.

Rooted in the Franciscan story of the Wolf of Gubbio, the Red Wolves embody courage, compassion, community, and strength through unity. While we look ahead to the future, the spirit of the Red Flash lives on, woven into the new logo as a tribute to the generations who built our proud athletics tradition.

The Flash ignited the legacy. The Pack carries it forward.

Welcome to the next chapter of Saint Francis Athletics.

Read the full release here: https://www.francis.edu/blog/saint-francis-university-unveils-red-wolves-identity-new-division-iii-era

04/20/2026

Some biology and environmental engineering students from Dr. Loya's ecology class braved the cold and snow to assist the Shade Creek Watershed Association with their macroinvertebrate sampling efforts on Sunday. Thank you Jacob, Ryan, and Elyse!

04/16/2026

Congratulations to Olivia Rowan '26, Aquarium & Zoo Science. Olivia will attend a Maters of Business Administration program after graduation at Indiana University of Pennsylvania!