New Species Of Coywolf Explode Across North America

Fact checked

'It's an amazing contemporary evolution story that’s happening right underneath our nose'

coywolf

A new hybrid of wolf and coyote called the coywolf or the eastern coyote have increased in population numbers in eastern U.S.A.

This is one of the great success stories of interspecies animal breeding as the coyote-wolf hybrid ‘coywolf’ can now count its numbers in the millions.

The Independent reports:

This new animal, which has emerged in the eastern part of North America over the last century or so, is better than both its predecessors.

At 25kg, it’s twice the size of a coyote; it has larger jaws and bigger muscles meaning it can take down deer; it’s equally adept at hunting in forests and open terrain.

It’s also got some dog in it, about a tenth. With 25 per cent wolf DNA, coyote is the dominant species, according to research by Javier Monzón from Stony Brook University in New York.

That dog DNA means it can get along with people better than either a wolf or coyote, and consequently it can increasingly be seen in urban environments.Coywolf

What’s extraordinary about this isn’t that it came into existence – the changing landscape of the United States forced canines to broaden their mating horizons – but that it has multiplied so rapidly.

Dr Roland Kays of North Carolina State University told The Economist its numbers are now in the millions.

The creation, which is also called the eastern coyote, can go nearly anywhere. And it’s expanding its territory.

So smart is the coywolf that is even looks both ways before crossing the road. Dr Kays is blown away by this “amazing contemporary evolution story that’s happening right underneath our nose”.

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