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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA new species is evolving right before our eyes--an ultra-successful mix of wolves, coyotes and dogs
Greater than the sum of its partsIt is rare for a new animal species to emerge in front of scientists eyes. But this seems to be happening in eastern North America
LIKE some people who might rather not admit it, wolves faced with a scarcity of potential sexual partners are not beneath lowering their standards. It was desperation of this sort, biologists reckon, that led dwindling wolf populations in southern Ontario to begin, a century or two ago, breeding widely with dogs and coyotes. The clearance of forests for farming, together with the deliberate persecution which wolves often suffer at the hand of man, had made life tough for the species. That same forest clearance, though, both permitted coyotes to spread from their prairie homeland into areas hitherto exclusively lupine, and brought the dogs that accompanied the farmers into the mix.
Interbreeding between animal species usually leads to offspring less vigorous than either parentif they survive at all. But the combination of wolf, coyote and dog DNA that resulted from this reproductive necessity generated an exception. The consequence has been booming numbers of an extraordinarily fit new animal (see picture) spreading through the eastern part of North America. Some call this creature the eastern coyote. Others, though, have dubbed it the coywolf. Whatever name it goes by, Roland Kays of North Carolina State University, in Raleigh, reckons it now numbers in the millions.
The mixing of genes that has created the coywolf has been more rapid, pervasive and transformational than many once thought. Javier Monzón, who worked until recently at Stony Brook University in New York state (he is now at Pepperdine University, in California) studied the genetic make-up of 437 of the animals, in ten north-eastern states plus Ontario. He worked out that, though coyote DNA dominates, a tenth of the average coywolfs genetic material is dog and a quarter is wolf.
The DNA from both wolves and dogs (the latter mostly large breeds, like Doberman Pinschers and German Shepherds), brings big advantages, says Dr Kays. At 25kg or more, many coywolves have twice the heft of purebred coyotes. With larger jaws, more muscle and faster legs, individual coywolves can take down small deer. A pack of them can even kill a moose.
Coyotes dislike hunting in forests. Wolves prefer it. Interbreeding has produced an animal skilled at catching prey in both open terrain and densely wooded areas, says Dr Kays. And even their cries blend those of their ancestors. The first part of a howl resembles a wolfs (with a deep pitch), but this then turns into a higher-pitched, coyote-like yipping.
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https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2015/10/31/greater-than-the-sum-of-its-parts?cid1=cust/ednew/n/bl/n/20151029n/owned/n/n/nwl/n/n/NA/n
hlthe2b
(102,320 posts)able to adapt.
panader0
(25,816 posts)Lots of coyotes here on my land in So Az. I hear them every day, usually twice,
early evening when they group and early morning when they go back to their dens.
I can understand them interbreeding--I see no harm in it. Adapt. Good for them.
marybourg
(12,633 posts)take a cocker spaniel, thus are no threat to humans, but a coywolf that can take a deer can be a real threat to humans in the more densely populated east.
Laffy Kat
(16,385 posts)marybourg
(12,633 posts)Theyre no threat to humans, although there was a story a few years ago about one dragging an infant out of a doorway.
CaliforniaPeggy
(149,660 posts)I was aware of the interbreeding between coyotes and wolves, but I didn't know it included dogs. Wow.
I wish them every success.
Laffy Kat
(16,385 posts)MoonRiver
(36,926 posts)Wouldn't have happened if humans hadn't target wolves for extinction.
roamer65
(36,745 posts)pecosbob
(7,542 posts)I fear the influence the domesticated canine genes might introduce...as in a reduced fear of humans that is natural to both coyotes and wolves. I've heard horror stories about some of those 7/8ths wolf-dogs that people were breeding a few years back.