Happy Birthday to Reflection Riding’s Red Wolves!

Written By Tish Gailmard

April and May are Red Wolf birthday months! Red Wolves only breed one time per year with the breeding season in January, February, March (usually late January into February in the southeast) with a 63 day gestation period leading to April and May birthdays. Litters can range from 1-9 with pups weighing approximately 400g each. Their eyes and ears remain closed until two weeks of age. They begin to ambulate outside the natal den around five weeks old.

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Colbert, Happy 7th!

You’re a goofball and we love you.

Here’s a bit about each of our wolves and their birthdays:

Patriot, Happy 13th! - Patriot came to us in the late fall of 2020 and was born May 4, 2008. He has a very calm demeanor and lives with Sequoyah, our older female, as a companion pair. He is unusually colored, being almost white in many places on his body. He loves to howl and often starts the howling sessions.

Sequoyah, Happy 11th! - Sequoyah has been with us for a while now and is a large female, born April 17, 2010. She also has a calm demeanor but is active in her enclosure. She always wears a smile.

Apollo, Happy 7th! - Apollo came to us a few years ago and is a very kind and gentle wolf, born April 22, 2014. He has spectacular amber eyes. He is paired with Ruby as a breeding pair this season. He likes to sunbathe on top of his den box.

Ruby, Happy 5th! - Ruby was born at Reflection Riding on April 15, 2016. She is very busy, can be a bit of a bully, and is always on alert. She resides with Apollo as a breeding pair for this season. She likes to sunbathe while resting on the ground cover. 

Colbert, Happy 7th! - Colbert came to us a few years ago and was born on April 8, 2014. He is very busy in his enclosure and kind of a goofball. He has been paired with several females for breeding but no offspring were produced. This year, he is paired with Marley as a breeding pair. 

Marley, Happy 3rd! - Marley is our newest wolf arriving in late 2020. She was born April 19, 2018, and is paired with Colbert as a breeding pair. She is an extremely shy, fairly large female and spends most of her time in her den box, sometimes cruising her enclosure in the early morning.

As the most endangered canid in the world, these birthdays are cause for celebration!

Lots of yips and howls for our Red Wolf six-pack birthdays!

Tish Gailmard

Director of Wildlife

Team member since 2000

Tish Gailmard is the Director of Wildlife Conservation and has been part of the Reflection Riding team since 2000. Since she was a child, spending her days playing and exploring in the woods, Tish has loved animals. Tish is a graduate of the University of Georgia and is a Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency licensed rehabilitator for mammals and rabies vector species. 

In 2016, Tish was named the Tennessee Wildlife Federation Environmental Educator of the Year and has also been recognized as a Girls Preparatory School notable alumnae. As a passionate advocate for wildlife, Tish is a Red Wolf Species Survival Plan management team member, Red Wolf SAFE committee member, Red Wolf Task Force member, and red wolf blood champion.

When she's not working, Tish serves her community and her family. She is a wife, mother, grandmother, proud Georgia Bulldog fan, and former Signal Mountain Parks board member — she also professes to be solar-powered. She loves a day at the beach and a day in the woods. Next time you see her, ask Tish about her mob of dogs and her flock of chickens... and about how much she loves Post-It Notes.

tish@reflectionriding.org

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