Seems a lot of people don't know Eastern Coyotes are part wolf

[friendly_iconoclast]

"Coyotes kill Toronto singer in Cape Breton"

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6873927

Having friends who photographed some rather large ones (at their home in coastal New England), and knowing
that their neighbors who keep horses use dogs, llamas, (and in one case a mule) to protect their animals,
I chimed in rather abruptly.

Sad when a confirmed suburban slicker has to educate people on rural wildlife, but there it is...

[GreenPartyVoter]

1. Well heck. We have some in the woods behind the trailer park and I didn't know that.

Thanks for the info!

[friendly_iconoclast]

2. You're welcome. The E. Coyote is distinctly different (and larger)

The theory is that male wolves interbred with female coyotes as the coyotes migrated east.

Now, they are hybrids:



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

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


http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=wylie-coywolf-the-coyote-wolf-hybri-2009-09-23


http://www.projectcoyote.org/newsreleases/news_eastern.html

...The most plausible scenario is that the eastern coyote is actually a hybrid between coyotes and a small type of wolf. Dr. Brad White’s research team at Trent University reported that the wolves found in southeastern Canada may actually be the same species as the red wolf (Canis rufus, or Canis lycaon as proposed) found in the southeastern United States. This “eastern wolf” is smaller, weighing about 60 pounds, and is thought to be more closely related to the coyote than to the gray wolf because both are theorized to have evolved in the New World whereas the gray wolf originated in the Old World. Thus, White’s research group theorized that the genetic similarity of the coyote and Canis lycaon might facilitate hybridization, especially when populations are low in an area. (In fact, the biggest threat currently facing the red wolf in the southeastern United States is hybridization with coyotes colonizing the periphery of the North Carolina red wolf recovery area.)

I have been collaborating with White’s genetic team, and they recently finished analyzing the genetic results of about 75 of our samples from eastern Massachusetts. Perhaps not surprisingly, they did find evidence for hybridization. They found that our study subjects were mainly eastern coyote, but all also had western coyote and eastern/red wolf genetic influence as well. White believes the eastern coyote should be classified as its own species because all of the samples from the Northeast (including from Massachusetts, New York, Maine, and New Brunswick) grouped more closely to each other than to western coyotes or wolves. Interestingly, biologists call these same Canids “Tweed wolves” in Ontario, and White notes that they are a product of hybridization between eastern coyotes and eastern wolves.

We are still trying to sort through this “canid soup” and have found variability within study areas with some “coyotes” having nearly pure red/eastern wolf and others having much western coyote DNA. We will likely not be able to officially call the eastern coyote a new species until we sample throughout the Northeast and determine where they become less “eastern coyote” and more “western coyote” or “eastern wolflike.” However, it is obvious that the eastern coyote is indeed distinct when I compare the size and physical makeup of eastern and western coyotes; I see a more massive eastern coyote that looks very similar to the red wolves that have graced the covers of past issues of International Wolf....

[medeak]

3. son was nearly taken away by coyote on my deck

27 yrs ago out west...I don't care if your coyotes are part wolf or not....but I have a coyote coat, coyote bedspread after grabbing son just in time. And don't flame me you peta people.

[MercutioATC]

4. A Dingo took my baby.

Does that count?

[pnwmom]

5. How close did the animal get? How awful for you! n/t

[medeak]

8. less than a foot away

crouched down ready to attack

[LWolf]

6. I didn't know that.

Of course, I've only been east of the rockies once since 1967, and that was a 3 day stay in Houston.

Makes a little more sense. I've lived in coyote country (which is everywhere these days, I know,) for most of my life and have never encountered a coyote aggressive towards people.

Cats, dogs, chickens, sheep...yes. People? No.

[kestrel91316]

7. I had no idea - learn something new every day........

I knew something was not quite kosher with "coyotes" killing an adult human. Our western coyotes are pretty bold, but they generally stop at trying to haul squirming toddlers off (and failing).