Reply #71: EASTERN COYOTES ARE PART WOLF, PEOPLE! [View All]

[friendly_iconoclast]

Sorry about the yelling, but it's an important point:


http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=wylie-coywolf-the-coyote-wolf-hybri-2009-09-23
Sep 23, 2009 06:52 PM in Basic Science

Wylie Coywolf: The coyote-wolf hybrid has made its way to the Northeast
By Carina Storrs

Bigger than coyotes but smaller than wolves, their howl is high-pitched and their diet includes deer and small rodents. They are "coywolves" (pronounced "coy," as in playful, "wolves"), and they are flourishing in the northeastern U.S., according to a study published today in Biology Letters.

Although coyote–wolf breeding has been reported in Ontario, where coyotes started migrating from the Great Plains in the 1920s, this study provides the first evidence of coywolves—also known as coydogs or eastern coyotes—in the Northeast. And even though they are more coyote (Canis latrans) than wolf (gray wolves are Canis lupus, and red wolves are Canis rufus), the expansion of these hybrids into western New York State marks the return of wolves to the Empire State....

http://www.pgc.state.pa.us/pgc/cwp/view.asp?a=458&q=150783

....The eastern coyote (Canis latrans) is found throughout northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. Recent research shows the eastern coyote is an immigrant whose origin may have involved interbreeding between coyotes and gray wolves. Analysis of DNA suggests coyote/wolf hybridization has occurred. Other studies indicate that the eastern coyote is intermediate in size and shape between gray wolves and western coyotes. As a result, the eastern coyote exhibits different behavior, habitat use, pelt coloration, prey preferences and home range sizes from its western cousin....

....The eastern coyote is much larger than its western counterpart. Adult males in Pennsylvania weigh 45 to 55 pounds. The heaviest known male caught here weighed 62 pounds. Females are smaller, 35 to 40 pounds. The heaviest known female in Pennsylvania weighed 42 pounds. Total body length of eastern coyotes ranges from 48 to 60 inches....

...The coyote is a generalist. An analysis of 300 coyote scats collected in Pennsylvania indicate a wide array of food items in their diet. Mammals from at least 13 genera were found, ranging from small mice and voles to deer. Overall, deer was the dominant food, occurring in 57 percent of the scats...

http://mainehuntingtoday.com/bbb/2007/11/17/massachusetts-study-says-eastern-coyote-part-wolf/

Massachusetts Study Says Eastern Coyote Part Wolf
November 17, 2007

Like similar studies done in Maine and New York, a recent study conducted in Massachusetts by Bradley White, a conservation geneticist at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, showed that the state’s coyote there is also a mix breed. The tissue samples that were collected for the study was done by wildlife biologist Jonathan G. Way of Marston Mills.

For years many have believed that the coyote found in the east was some kind of cross between a western coyote and a wolf because the eastern coyote is considerably larger than the those found in the west. New York and Maine have conducted similar studies to show that what we call an eastern coyote is a cross or hybrid mix of probably a western coyote with a Canadian eastern wolf.....

I have some friends on Cape Ann (Massachusetts) who have photographed some rather large ones. They live next to conservation land and see them regularly.