Invasion of the coywolf

[savethelephant]

Coywolf numbers on the East coast are sky-rocketing:
There are more than a million coywolves in the Northeast - Business Insider

 

[DavidBrown]

Here is the original article from the Economist. The coywolf is a fascinating story of speciation potentially happening right in front of our eyes.

Greater than the sum of its parts | The Economist

 

[Arizona Docent]

I read the second article linked by David Brown. Really interesting stuff.

 

[dcpandafan]

Coywolves are Taking Over Eastern North America

Coywolves are Taking Over Eastern North America

Coywolves are not 'shy wolves'—they are coyote-wolf hybrids (with some dog mixed in) and now number in the millions

Coywolves are Taking Over Eastern North America | Smart News | Smithsonian

There are more than a million coywolves in the Northeast - Tech Insider

 

[Pleistohorse]

A) isn't it time we start referring to this animal as the American Golden Wolf?

B) if anyone reads science-fiction I recommend the recent novel Seveneves. The author must have a shared interest because a biologist character references the adaptability of a general canid species and how quickly it speciates to fill an existing biological niche.

I'm kind of just joking with point A...but not really. And Seveneves is a really good story.

 

[DavidBrown]

Roland Kays, one of the scientists who found that eastern coyotes have hybridized with wolves and dogs, argues that there is no such thing as a "coywolf".

https://theconversation.com/yes-eastern-coyotes-are-hybrids-but-the-coywolf-is-not-a-thing-50368