Our Coyotes a Mixed Breed

By Kevin McKeon, Maine Master Naturalist

Was it a dog, a wolf, or a coyote that you heard or saw? Well, yes it was. Recent DNA studies found that the average eastern coyote, Canis latrans x C. lycaon, is 64% western coyote, 26% wolf, and 10% domestic dog. They’re a relative newcomer around here, originating in Southeastern Canada in 1919, then migrating to the northeastern United States in the 1940s. So, the folks who say, “It’s too big for a coyote,” or “It’s too small for a wolf”, or “No! It’s a coy-dog!” are not all wrong! (A future article will discuss wolves in Maine.)

In fact, the Canid Specialist Group in Oxford, England says the most appropriate name, given its mixed origin, is “coywolf,” and suggests that the taxonomic species name be changed from Canis latrans x C. lycaon, to Canis oriens — meaning “eastern dog.” The “x” in Canis latrans x C. lycaon denotes a hybrid or cross between the listed species. So, the cross between C. latrans, western coyote, and C. lycaon, eastern wolf, gives us our eastern coyote/coywolf. At 35 to 50 pounds, it’s larger than the western coyote but smaller than the eastern wolf.

Some folks think that residential areas are not wildlife habitat, and that coywolf should not exist near them. But these intelligent creatures know that humans are their predator, so they avoid them and their back yards, especially when we make them feel unwelcome by removing food sources and keeping pets inside at night and dawn/dusk times. But regardless of habitat, coywolf behave like coywolf — keeping to a mostly natural diet of rodents, rabbits, and the occasional sick, old, or young deer. They also prefer natural, wooded areas for their foraging, dens, and sleeping.

Coywolf can move extensively and rapidly through any landscape — wilderness, urban, or rural — traveling long distances, almost anywhere and quickly, colonizing and re-colonizing territories. They’ve been documented crossing wide canals, bridges, and even using ice floes. There are even several packs on Long Island, so they made it through New York City! Some canid species have shown a natal-habitat-biased tendency, dispersing to areas similar to where they were reared, potentially forming a genetically based bias for such environments. But it’s not yet known if our coywolf are so inclined.

Forming packs of seven to 12, comprised of about three to four adults and their pups, they’ll defend large territories — eight to 10 square miles — and the coywolf pack will forage about 15 miles per night. It’s the rare human who hasn’t heard the howling nighttime communications among their fellow pack members over long distances. These far-ranging vocalization habits give the impression that there’s a lot of them around, but they self-regulate their numbers by both litter size and guarding their territory from other coywolf, maintaining an overall healthy population properly sized for the habitat within their territory. And coywolf from urbanized areas are more nocturnal than those in rural/wilderness locations, learning to be more active when people aren’t.

It is important to be aware of the importance coywolf have in the maintenance of ecosystem health in all landscapes. Survival of the fittest ensures the evolution of the most wary and fastest prey, as the predator coywolf will snatch only the slower and weaker of their prey, leaving the rest to pass on their superior survival genes. The deer herd becomes more healthy and swift, rabbits more wary, and fewer grasshoppers eat hay fields. And what humans consider pests will be mitigated by coywolf predation. When the need vanishes — when human pests like mice, rats, and others have been minimized — coywolf’s natural territorial behavior will result in the colonization of a different area and/or a decrease in their numbers.

With the knowledge we’ve gained of coywolf behavior and their ecological importance, these family-oriented, social, intelligent creatures deserve a high level of understanding regarding their importance to ecosystem health. Consider that we humans are a part of that ecosystem; we all live within nature, not next to her, so living with nature requires a better understanding of her needs because her needs are our needs.

Editor’s note: Did you see something unusual last time you were out in the woods? Were you puzzled or surprised by something you saw? Ask our “Out in the Woods” columnist Kevin McKeon. He’ll be happy to investigate and try to answer your questions. Email him directly at: kpm@metrocast.net