COYWOLF

Description

Was that a coyote or a coywolf? If you were standing in Ontario when you saw it, here’s why you could say that you saw either one. The coywolf, a hybrid of the wolf and the western coyote, is the dominant species of coyote in Ontario. Coywolf or coyote are usually one and the same. This has been the case in Ontario for nearly a century. It wasn’t until the 1990s that a team of geneticists discovered all coyotes in the province were a genetic hybrid of eastern wolves and western coyotes. “All the animals we have examined show the presence of eastern wolf and western coyote DNA,” Trent University geneticist Bradley White previously told the Banner. “Eastern coyotes were recognized as a large coyote, but their relationship to western coyotes and eastern wolves only became clear after DNA analyses.” DNA data suggest western coyotes arrived in Ontario in about 1919 and hybridized with eastern wolves such as the ones currently residing in Algonquin Park. They then spread east and occupied Newfoundland, as well as the northern New England states in the United States. The eastern coyote, or coywolf, does differ from the western coyote and eastern wolf, though. Coywolves aren’t afraid of humans to the same extent that wolves are. Also, coywolves are larger and often hunt in packs, which is probably related to their wolf heritage.

Taken By

mark golding

Taken On

April 3, 2024

Tagged

coyote coywolf animal mammal canine dog pet red_wolf wolf head eye dog_breed carnivore whiskers iris grey terrestrial_animal