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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

#91

Post by stefantalpalaru »

Houshalter wrote: post #59

Hybridization is super interesting from an evolutionary perspective. Two populations can evolve down very different paths. Evolving all sorts of new genes and adaptions. Then hybridization mixes it all up. And over time, the best combination of genes from both species will be selected for. Creating something more fit than either of the original species.

Not so fast with the evolutionary fantasies. If they can breed and produce fertile offspring, are they really different species? Maybe we've got the definitions wrong somewhere.

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

#92

Post by goda90 »

chroma wrote: post #52
igravious wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sharks kill humans annually. So do big cats. And snakes. What are we going to do? Shoot all these on sight? Predate to extinction (and not even for their nutritional value) those species that harm us in even the slightest way? I oppose that. No thanks. That's not the type of world I want to live in. I want to co-exist with these amazing creatures, not drive them to extinction, or only have them alive in captivity.

Many pathogens and parasites are amazing creatures. Do you take the same stance with those, or are you only in favor of charismatic megafauna roaming wild? From my point of view, lions, crocodiles, wolves, etc... they're basically microencephalized sociopaths. It would be better if they never harmed any creature capable of suffering. That means either eliminating them or drastically modifying them. Granted, this is c…

The problem is that every creature harms something else. Every species would eat itself to starvation given the chance. Look up the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone and the diversity and balance it has allowed.

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

#93

Post by 6502nerdface »

gotchange wrote: post #72
vlehto wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Btw, have you ever considered the real reason why humans so eagerly bury/burn their dead? It's quite likely because we don't want natural predators to get used to the taste of human flesh. I live in a country where bears have been hunted for millenia. As a result I've slept about 1,5km away from known bear nest in the woods. It was scouting trip and none of us was really worried. Because we knew that by now, bears re…

> It's quite likely because we don't want natural predators to get used to the taste of human flesh. What do you suggest to dispose of human cadavers other than burying them because other methods like incineration and the likes are not as economic as the former method?

> What do you suggest to dispose of human cadavers other than burying them...[?]

Have you read Stranger in a Strange Land?

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

#94

Post by alexggordon »

bleakcabal wrote: post #82
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…

Coyotes have only killed two people in North America in all of recorded history (and if you check recorded history for wolf attacks it goes back at least to the 1800s). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyote_attacks_on_humans A 3 year old child in 1981 and a 19 year old woman in 2009. Both victims were alone at the time of their attacks. Coyotes killing humans is an exceedingly rare occurrence.

Not that it provides much statistical evidence, but the wikipedia[0] article (regarding the 19 year old girl) talking about the coyotes specifically mentions how coyotes didn't use to be in that area of Canada, but were likely there as a result of rapid adaptive evolution[1].

Obviously that doesn't statistically show that they're getting more aggressive, but it's not something you can easily ignore either, given the lack of other coyote attacks.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taylor_Mitchell

[1] http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2009/09...

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

#95

Post by mod »

chroma wrote: post #60
haylem wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. Not wanting to put words in your mouth, but that sounds like trying to impose a vegan lifestyle (for the record: I'm vegetarian and mostly vegan now) to the animal kingdom. I can understand part of the sentiment, but I'm a bit cautious of 1) the possibility of that happening 2) the impacts 3) the ethics.

That's an accurate representation of my views. Though as I said, it's pretty low on the list of things that need fixing. One day –hopefully– humanity will have its shit together. Then the majority of suffering will be inflicted by (non-human) animals upon other animals. What do we do about that? I don't have an answer, but I'm pretty sure "let it continue" isn't it. To bring the discussion back to the present: I thin…

> Then the majority of suffering will be inflicted by (non-human) animals upon other animals.

I think this is likely already the case. Most animals killed by humans are killed quickly and efficiently.

A typical kill in the wild, however, can be horrific. Especially when the predator does not dwarf the prey--coyotes killing a deer, for instance.

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

#96

Post by mod »

lost_my_pwd wrote: post #75
chroma wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's an accurate representation of my views. Though as I said, it's pretty low on the list of things that need fixing. One day –hopefully– humanity will have its shit together. Then the majority of suffering will be inflicted by (non-human) animals upon other animals. What do we do about that? I don't have an answer, but I'm pretty sure "let it continue" isn't it. To bring the discussion back to the present: I thin…

Funny that you mention rationalizing; something these non-human predator can not do. They are simply doing what their instincts drive them to do: hunt and survive. That is nowhere near the same thing as a human killer that does it for non-survival reasons; anger, entertainment, sexual excitement, etc. Even if we say that human killers are driven by instinct, as animals are, they also have the ability to reason about…

Plenty of animals hunt and/or kill not to survive, but because they enjoy it.

You should see my dog go after camel crickets, and how it plays with the dead bodies. It prefers them to tennis balls, for certain.

I wouldn't be surprised if other predators feel similarly about their prey, even if they also eat it.

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

#97

Post by dwc »

stefantalpalaru wrote: post #91
Houshalter wrote: post #59

Hybridization is super interesting from an evolutionary perspective. Two populations can evolve down very different paths. Evolving all sorts of new genes and adaptions. Then hybridization mixes it all up. And over time, the best combination of genes from both species will be selected for. Creating something more fit than either of the original species.

Not so fast with the evolutionary fantasies. If they can breed and produce fertile offspring, are they really different species? Maybe we've got the definitions wrong somewhere.

If you change "species" to "population" in the parent comment everything still works.

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

#98

Post by kasey_junk »

GigabyteCoin wrote: post #31

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 think…

I live in the heart of Chicago, not the suburbs at all & there are coyotes all around my place. The feral cat & rabbit population has plummeted & I wouldn't leave a small dog out at night. That said they stay pretty far away from people.

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

#99

Post by chiph »

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #28
posnet wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw that story, I think it was on the same site that had the piece on the Midwest entrepreneur who recently closed a successful round A for his oversized magnet company.

That's the company that the WSJ described as "profits that seemed to hang in the air, before falling off a cliff"? Associated Coyote Magnetic Enterprises - was that the name? What was their stock symbol?

They have really diversified in recent years, making lateral moves from blacksmithing tools to large-diameter springs, and then into rocketry. They truly are a company that makes everything.

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

#100

Post by sarciszewski »

Somewhere on the Internet, a furry just gained yet another fursona.

> LIKE some people who might rather not admit it, wolves faced with a scarcity of potential sexual partners are not beneath lowering their standards.

Oddly appropriate.

EDIT: Nevermind, looks like they have at least 3 years on this joke: https://www.furaffinity.net/view/9465519/

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