Coyotes bred with wolves

[propwins]

from today's NY Times:

Two separate teams of researchers studying the genes of coyotes in the Northeast reported evidence that these animals that have for decades upon decades been thought of as coyotes are in fact coyote-wolf hybrids.

The team headed by Roland W. Kays, curator of mammals at the New York State Museum, studied coyotes from New Jersey to Maine. Jonathan Way, wildlife biologist with the Eastern Coyote Research consulting firm, and colleagues examined coyotes around Cape Cod and Boston. Both teams found that the animals carry wolf and coyote DNA. The paper by Dr. Kays and his colleagues was published in Biology Letters; the paper by Dr. Way and his colleagues was published in Northeastern Naturalist.

Based on the wolf DNA found in the Eastern coyotes, Dr. Kays and colleagues hypothesize in their paper that Western coyotes dispersing eastward north of the Great Lakes across Canada during the last century mated with wolves along the way, bringing that wolf DNA along with them to the Northeast.

The findings may explain why coyotes in the East are generally larger than their Western counterparts — that is, more wolflike in size — and why they are so much more varied in coat color, as might be expected from a creature with a more diverse genome. It may also explain why Eastern coyotes appear to be more adept as deer hunters than their Western forebears, which tend toward smaller prey, like voles and rabbits.

 

[GTBHUNTIN]

great now they will be put on the endangered list!

 

[Resica]

The Yotes in the northern and eastern part of Pa. have wolf DNA while the ones in the western part of the state do not.

 

[rawdawg2034]

I don't know if this will help and I may even be way off base with this, I found this in a research book.
" As early as 1910, the coyote was noticed to be drifting into the northeastern states. Coyotes have lived in the eastern states since the early 1900s " The first release was in Barbour county, Alabama, in 1924.... Young foxes were to be released, but instead, young coyote pups were accidentally released"
(The Trapper & Predator Caller,1985)
Recent research has indicated that the coyotes have not been as restricted to the west as has been thought for the past 70 years.
Gray wolves and "Brush" wolves have been referred to in the Eastern trapping literature for several hundred years.
The "Brush" wolf is the eastern coyote, witch is a larger subspecies of darker color. During colonial times, wolves of all kinds were eradicated in large areas and greatly reduced in others and remained that way until the 1970s .
Often, gray wolves and "brush" wolves were not identified separately in bounty records or trapping references.
It is quite possible that the coyote (brush wolf) has remained in the east all along in small enclaves in the remote forests and mountains of Minnesota , Michigan, and New England. Modern farming methods and lack of artificial controls on Eastern coyotes since the 1960s set the stage for a dramatic comeback in the past 40 years.

 

[CCP]

I wrote this Article last year


In my quest of hunting coyotes over the last 20 plus years here in the east I have noticed a difference in the coyotes east and west. I want to gather as much info on the eastern coyote as I can. I purposely on my site easterncoyotes.com excluded content from west of the Mississippi. Why?? There are several reasons one being I believe there is a difference in the two in a lot of eastern areas. Coyotes only came to be east of the Mississippi since the 1900’s and a hunt able population only since around the late seventies and early 80’s.


From the reading I have done most biologists suggest they made their way here through Canada. Some in the South say they were brought here by fox hunters in the late 40’s. I believe if the full blooded western coyote could survive and thrive here they would have made it here thousands of years ago by way of Canada or natural land bridges.

So what changes were there for the coyote to thrive and populate the east so quickly? I believe it to be genetics on the coyote’s part coinciding with the explosion of the deer population at the same time.

From Project coyote Jonathan G. Way
“Bergmann’s rule (i.e., larger size with increasing latitude) has been posited to explain the larger sizes of mammals in colder climates; findings from my study indicate that longitude (degrees west to east) accounted for greater than four times the amount of variation in coyote mass than did latitude.”

I also find this to be true because I have taken coyotes 50lbs +as far south as Gainesville Fla. There are pockets of coyotes around the southeast that differ from so called normal sized coyotes. I have not hunted in the North but have read many studies from the North and find some of the same holds true for there.

Here is an example

The map below shows some areas I have hunted throughout the southeastern US,
The light red areas are places I encountered normal sized coyotes and large numbers of coyotes. These coyotes were more plentiful and were easily called across open areas. Average weight around 25 to 35 pounds.

The light blue areas are places I encountered less coyotes but were much larger 45 to 50 +pounds. Some of these larger coyotes were only a few miles from there smaller counter parts.

In hunting these two different sized coyotes I could kill either by simply setting up and calling but to increase my kill numbers I had to change my tactics to successfully kill the larger consistently. The larger sized coyote areas are what I am trying to understand. They seemed to have a range of 7 to 10 miles while the smaller coyotes have an average range around 3 to 5 miles.
Now does wolf DNA have a factor in these coyotes? Does it create a coyote that hunts larger game? Causing it to travel with the deer? I have also noticed these larger coyotes rely on each other more when coming to the call. In the few cases I have been able to watch these type coyotes come from afar they have split and come to the sound from different angles. Increasing the chance of a caller getting busted by one of them.


This explained why sometimes hunting these areas I would hear 1 single very light yelp from an unexpected area and then not see a coyote on that stand. Thus causing me to change my tactics when hunting these coyotes. The smaller coyotes seem to be very predictable in their approach. Most will come in downwind or charge straight in. They will either be a single or if in a group will all come from the same direction. The larger coyote areas they seem to split well before getting close to the sound and come from different sides. The only other time I have seen this was on discovery channel, wild dogs in Africa would split before they arrived at their prey and come in from different directions. Maybe they have some canine DNA that affects them???

The light red areas I have hunted do work well running and gunning. Most of those areas are open and have large farms. The light blue areas it doesn’t seem to work as well but scouting and setting up better pays off and produces consistent kills.

Also another factor I have noticed through the years. The coyotes are way more vocal in the light red areas. The blue areas I may hear the coyotes maybe once or twice a month even though my scouting may find a good healthy population. If a landowner tells me he hears coyotes all the time I know I can setup a little more loosely. If a land owner tells me I hear them every once in awhile and my scouting shows good sign then I make my setup tight. I know coyotes are almost everywhere here. If a land owner tells me he doesn’t hear or see any, many times my scouting will find coyotes there and I automatically know they will be harder to hunt.

I want to believe a coyote is a coyote like a dog is a dog but there are different breeds of dogs that are good at different things. So what keeps a coyote from breeding and evolving into a better hunter for the eastern terrain??

I spend most of my calling time observing coyotes and how they react instead of just shooting them. I have noticed a large difference in a lot of coyote groups. I understand what they are doing and setup accordingly now I want to know why they have changed so much in the past 20 years. Canine? Wolf? Natural evolution?

Want to add the above map is small and the colors are large and lap over several counties. Most of the places were small farms or public land and a much smaller area than projected by the brush strokes

 

[CCP]

A few more references


From PA game and fish

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.


From Virginia Link Here
On their path to the east the coyote hybridized with timber wolves in the north and red wolves in the south.


From Jonathan G. Way, Boston College, Environmental Studies and Lynch School of Education

The eastern coyote is believed to be a hybrid between the western coyote (Canis latrans) and either the red/eastern timber wolf [Canis rufus (red), or C. lycaon (eastern timber) as currently is proposed] or the gray wolf (Canis lupus). This canid is thought to have reached northern New England by the 1930’s and 1940’s; it has moved steadily southward, now occupying virtually all suitable habitat in the Northeast.


From Project coyote Link Here


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.

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.

From West Moreland Conservancy.


The coyote is here and well established, but he is considerably different morphologically and behaviorally than his western cousin. It is believed he came from the west, but how did he get here? And, is he still a full blooded true blue coyote? The answer to the first question is we aren’t completely sure and the answer to the second question is a definite no. The eastern coyote differs from the western coyote by the lack of foot-sweat, a larger skull (although smaller than that of a wolf), more weight and less aggressiveness toward its mate or siblings. These are all wolf traits. That makes the eastern coyote sort of an intergraded between the wolf and western coyote and suggests the two have interbred.

by The Republican Newsroom
Friday November 16, 2007, 11:06 PM
By STAN FREEMAN
sfreeman@repub.com

A genetic study of tissue samples from 75 coyotes captured in the commonwealth showed that all contained varying degrees of the genes of a wolf species found in southeastern Canada, commonly called the Eastern wolf, and the genes of the western coyote, a noticeably smaller animal than the Eastern coyote.
"Eastern coyotes appear to be genetically distinct," he said. "They are not Western coyotes nor Eastern wolves. They are a hybrid (of the two) and probably should be classified as a new species."
French said that some wildlife biologists are pushing to have the Eastern coyote declared a separate and distinct species from the Western coyote.

 

[Coastie]

This information has been around for at least several years. The only tidbit of information missing is that the coyotes have crossed with the Red Wolf, not the Gray Wolf. I had never heard about a species of wolf called the eastern wolf, or the western wolf for that matter. Wolves on the plains were commonly called Lobos for years but that was just a local name as opposed to a distinct breed much like mountain lions here in the south east being called panthers. The plains wolves tended to be larger than those in the mountains supposedly due to their preying on the buffalo instead of smaller game. The small ones didn't survive the hunt and the larger ones did and passed their genes along so the entire pack tended to be larger, but the species was still the same.
http://www.naturalworlds.org/wolf/canis/wolves_canis.htm
I found the above link a few minutes after posting on here, some interesting information about wolves and the various sub-species.

 

[smackdown51]

not like this really has anythin to do with yotes but whan did the red wolf die off?

 

[NCHillbilly]

not like this really has anythin to do with yotes but whan did the red wolf die off?

They're still around, been reintroduced in a few places. They turned some loose here in the Smokies several years ago, but supposedly rounded them all up and removed them a couple years later. The Alligator River Wildlife refuge in eastern NC has a reintroduced population, as do some of the barrier islands on the SC coast.

CCP, thanks for the info. I was about laughed off the forum recently for saying that coyotes commonly got over fifty pounds here in the Smoky Mountains, and that I knew of a 70+ pounder killed near here. I killed a young female a few years ago that weighed over forty.

 

[Nicodemus]

I firmly believe that some of what we have here now is a red wolf-coyote cross. I also believe that is what causes the color varieties we are observin`.

 

[Miguel Cervantes]

This would explain the pair I saw one winter, bedding down, that looked like gray wolves in their winter coat. Near Marshallville, in Macon County. We had a pack of smaller yotes on the property that we would occasionally see, but this pair was much larger and more cautious in their movements.

 

[NCHillbilly]

The ones we have here are mostly very pack-oriented, too.

 

[slip]

They're still around, been reintroduced in a few places. They turned some loose here in the Smokies several years ago, but supposedly rounded them all up and removed them a couple years later. The Alligator River Wildlife refuge in eastern NC has a reintroduced population, as do some of the barrier islands on the SC coast.

A population of Red Wolf/Coyote hybrids [5] has been successfully reintroduced to eastern North Carolina.[6] Although this population has grown to over 100 animals, it is still highly endangered.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Wolf

not full blooded, but still neat.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Slip, that Wikipedia article is the only place I have ever seen someone claim that the ARNWR wolves are crossbreeds. Anybody can change a Wiki article to say whatever they want it to, and there are some people out there who believe that red wolves are a graywolf/coyote hybrid and not a true species. According to the official websites of ARNWR and the USFWS, the Alligator River wolves are pure-blooded. The original surviving wild red wolves that were captured for captive breeding and DNA tested. There were only 14 that were pure-blooded. These 14 formed the breeding stock for all the reintroduced wolves.

 

[slip]

Slip, that Wikipedia article is the only place I have ever seen someone claim that the ARNWR wolves are crossbreeds. Anybody can change a Wiki article to say whatever they want it to, and there are some people out there who believe that red wolves are a graywolf/coyote hybrid and not a true species. According to the official websites of ARNWR and the USFWS, the Alligator River wolves are pure-blooded. The original surviving wild red wolves that were captured for captive breeding and DNA tested. There were only 14 that were pure-blooded. These 14 formed the breeding stock for all the reintroduced wolves.

my bad, i wasnt disclaiming what you said, i thought these were two separate cases.

 

[ol mike]

Around 1980 my younger brother and i left Ohio and went to Houston Texas to work for the winter .
On the return trip home we saw a wolf near Texarkana [texas arkansas line] it ran across the road and bounded over a fence like a deer in plain view and we knew it was a wolf.
When you see one you know a wolf from a coyote ,I had heard of a red wolf and this thing had a lot of reddish color on it.The first thing out of my mouth was -look it's a red wolf.
We guessed its weight at 75lbs. as it stood 100yds away and stared at us.
I feel very lucky having seen one in the wild.
You guys are very knowledgeable with this stuff good reading here..