Coywolves are hybrids of coyotes and wolves (with some dogs) and currently number in the millions in the eastern United States and Canada
Residents of Eastern Canada and the United States are likely familiar with this intelligent and adaptable wild dog that lives in their forests, neighborhood parks and even cities. What you may not know is that the so-called “eastern coyotes” are not coyotes. It’s better to call them hybrids or coywolves, and they emerged in response to human expansion into natural habitats.
Coyotes appeared about a century ago and have since successfully spread throughout much of eastern North America. Deforestation, hunting and poisoning decimated the population of the original eastern wolves, which then mixed with coyotes. The first coyote or eastern “coywolf” appeared in Ontario, Canada around 1919. Today, even further south, in Virginia, wolf DNA material has turned up in coyote scat.
The hybrid, right Canis latrans var.weighs approx 18 kilos more than coyotes Purebred, it has longer legs, a larger jaw, smaller ears and a bushier tail. He is part eastern wolf, part western wolf, western coyote and with some dogs (large breeds like Doberman Pinscher and German Shepherds). Today, coyotes are already a quarter wolves and a tenth dogs.
The advantages of a hybrid
This mix of genes contributes to the Coyolobo hybrid being so successful that its specimens now number in the millions. Coyotes don’t like to hunt in the woods, but wolves prefer it. The crossbreeding resulted in an animal that masterfully hunts prey both in open terrain and in densely forested areas. Even their howls resemble those of their wolf ancestors. The first part of a howl is similar to that of a wolf (with a low tone), but then it becomes a higher pitched howl, similar to that of a coyote.
Dog DNA may even contain a certain tolerance to city noise. At least 20 of them now live in New York, while others have been seen in Washington DC, Boston and Philadelphia. The fact that coyowolves can breed with wolves and dogs means they don’t quite fit the definition of a new species, but that could be changing. Coyowolves are an amazing story of species evolution happening live.
