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New species combining wolf, coyote, and dog emerges in eastern North America

economist.com

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Re: New species combining wolf, coyote, and dog emerges in eastern North America

#31

Post by GigabyteCoin »

So this is why we have been noticing exponentially more "coyotes" roaming around the suburbs of the GTA recently?

My girlfriend was walking our dog last week and saw 3 of them within an hour. The next morning she saw 2.

The other day I was walking the dog and some kid stopped me to warn me about a "wolf" that was growling at him around the corner.

This is all within steps of our small "downtown" and I just kept thinking how strange it was to see so many of them in such a short period of time. I have lived here all my life and I don't think that I have ever seen a single "coyote" in the flesh.

Looks like it's time to start carrying some pepper spray on my usual dog walks? The thought of watching some wild animal devour my dog (or me) is terrifying.

Re: New species combining wolf, coyote, and dog emerges in eastern North America

#32

Post by ascorbic »

eigenvector wrote: post #16
davidw wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Economist is worth the subscription. You know how you often read about something you know in the media and think ... "if they are getting this wrong, what else are they getting wrong?". I've noticed it happens quite a bit less with The Economist, and they write about a fairly broad range of subjects.

Quite the contrary, in writing concisely about a broad range of complex topics the Economist often passes off opinion or conjecture as fact and analysis. Compare their writing on the domestic politics of any country besides the US and UK to that country's own media and you will find it disappointingly shallow.

Whereas most other US/UK media don't cover the domestic politics of other countries at all. It not that surprising that it's not comparable local media. When they have such a broad coverage in a single weekly magazine there's no way they can match the coverage of media in that country, and this applies to the US and UK too. However this doesn't mean that their analysis is weak or that their perspective isn't useful. It's just that there's no way it can be in the depth of media that cover it every day. As for passing off opinion as fact, that's not passing-off, it's just the house style which is opinionated in the news stories as well as leaders. This isn't something they try to hide. The Economist is useful if you want to have an opinionated round up of the world's events, as well as regular long form special reports on topics in more depth. In particular, their editorial position is one that is uncommon in many countries.

Re: New species combining wolf, coyote, and dog emerges in eastern North America

#33

Post by lvs »

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #13

One outcome of this interbreeding is that these animals have lost their fear of people, but they retain their predatory instincts, making them quite dangerous. There are coyotes in the northern part of Nova Scotia that have attacked lone hikers. A woman was killed, in fact a few years ago, and there have been numerous scary encounters in which the animal creeps closer and closer to a wary human, much like a predator…

Seems overly anxious, don't you think? Isolated incidents occur between humans and all natural predators on occasion. Obviously humankind isn't currently threatened in a serious way ... until these interbreed with zombies, of course.

Re: New species combining wolf, coyote, and dog emerges in eastern North America

#34

Post by frozenport »

The wolf, dingo, dog, coyote, and golden jackal diverged relatively recently, around three to four million years ago, and all have 78 chromosomes arranged in 39 pairs.[6] This allows them to hybridize freely (barring size or behavioral constraints) and produce fertile offspring.

Re: New species combining wolf, coyote, and dog emerges in eastern North America

#36

Post by PepeGomez »

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #13

One outcome of this interbreeding is that these animals have lost their fear of people, but they retain their predatory instincts, making them quite dangerous. There are coyotes in the northern part of Nova Scotia that have attacked lone hikers. A woman was killed, in fact a few years ago, and there have been numerous scary encounters in which the animal creeps closer and closer to a wary human, much like a predator…

But at least they kill cats, so the poor little native rodents won't have to die a gruesome death as often.

Re: New species combining wolf, coyote, and dog emerges in eastern North America

#37

Post by whyenot »

transfire wrote: post #14

Technically not a new species , rather a new subspecies .

Technically until the "forthcoming" paper by Jonathan Way is published, and designated type specimens exist, it isn't clear what it is -- certainly not a new species or subspecies right now.

Re: New species combining wolf, coyote, and dog emerges in eastern North America

#38

Post by PepeGomez »

frozenport wrote: post #34

The wolf, dingo, dog, coyote, and golden jackal diverged relatively recently, around three to four million years ago, and all have 78 chromosomes arranged in 39 pairs.[6] This allows them to hybridize freely (barring size or behavioral constraints) and produce fertile offspring.

Four million years is recent? We split from chimpanzees three to six million years ago.

Re: New species combining wolf, coyote, and dog emerges in eastern North America

#39

Post by asw »

blisterpeanuts wrote: post #13

One outcome of this interbreeding is that these animals have lost their fear of people, but they retain their predatory instincts, making them quite dangerous. There are coyotes in the northern part of Nova Scotia that have attacked lone hikers. A woman was killed, in fact a few years ago, and there have been numerous scary encounters in which the animal creeps closer and closer to a wary human, much like a predator…

LOL

Re: New species combining wolf, coyote, and dog emerges in eastern North America

#40

Post by rwhitman »

In eastern Los Angeles, coyotes are everywhere, to the point where in some areas you run into them constantly day or night. They're stealthy - silent and very calculating. You can tell many of them are part domestic dog and they don't seem phased by proximity to people and appear to understand the workings of the city to some extent. I have seen the mentioned looking both ways when crossing roads, and also use of sidewalks.

Coyotes are very good at not calling attention to themselves when needed. In fact I lived next to a den of them in LA for years and never heard a peep, despite seeing them staking me out from my neighbor's roof in broad daylight, testing the perimeters of my house more than a few times.

The thing is they're smarter than we give them credit, adapting to the man made environment and expand territory very quickly. We talk about controlling their population but they can parry - adeptly skilled at out-maneuvering people. Hold eye contact and you realize even though they look like a little dog, they're not your friend - they're studying you.

The speed at which they're expanding territory and where they're headed on the East coast now, is interesting. Growing up in southeastern Pennsylvania we never saw coyotes really, but in the last few years I'm hearing lots of stories about them from family. And now even here in NYC they're making an appearance as well.

The coyote / dog mix in LA seemed to not only have adapted to urban areas but use it to their advantage. Now add wolf to the mix and drop them in the environs of bountiful woodland and endless suburban sprawl of the eastern seaboard, what happens?

If an apex predator were to adapt into becoming an anthropocene survivor species, a prerequisite would be having intelligence enough to outwit humans. A species partly forged in human company, with increased intelligence, that uses our own environment as an advantage, and can hunt and eat us. Oh and reach full maturity in about a year. They may seem cute now, but give them a few generations and they might not be so cute any more.

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