Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2012 17:04:56 -0400
From: Chris Garriss
Subject: Coyotes
Ref:
Date: Sun, 24 Jun 2012 10:27:35 -0700 (PDT)
From: Bett Wilson Foley
Subject: coyotes
Recent/y there have been a number of studies conducted, including DNA testing, regarding coyotes, and some unexpected results have been found. There is a vast difference between “western” coyotes and “eastern” coyotes. The most recent theories are that as they moved eastward the coyotes split into two groups – one traveling north of the great lakes, the other south. Then came the US and Canadian governments – at the behest of farmers and ranchers – who blamed wolves for live stock losses – bounties were placed on wolves. They were shot nearly to extinction. The wolves that survived the extermination efforts interbred with coyotes.
DNA testing has revealed that there are essentially no “pure” coyotes in the eastern part of the US. They all carry wolf genes. This has resulted in an animal that is larger, has different head shape and differences in mouth structure. (there are quite a few studies – http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/11/111107-hybrids-coyotes-wolf-virginia-dna-animals-science/,
http://www.timberwolfinformation.org/info/archieve/newspapers/viewnews.cfm?ID=2026and quite a number of other sources, including a program that was on PBS
or
Animal channel a while back The eastern coyote population is to some extent more timber wolf than western coyote, and it acts and hunts differently than the western coyote. They do take deer, as well as smaller animals, and can be (not are) more aggressive and less shy.
So, don’t extrapolate behavior from the western populations to the eastern. They are in essence two different species, and they act, react and eat different prey. Wildlife in NC is changing, the wolf-coyote, feral hogs and a number of other non-natives. In the long run we’re going to have to live with them.
Chris