One recent example is the creation of the coywolf — a hybrid of the coyote and the wolf that is also known as the Eastern coyote. According to a new article from The Economist, their population seems to have reached more than a million.
These animals have a completely new genetic makeup: Their genes are about one-quarter wolf DNA and two-thirds coyote DNA; the rest is from domesticated dogs. A 2013 study suggests this dog DNA is mostly from a few specific breeds, including German Shepherds and Doberman Pincers.
Human activity likely played a role in the species' creation. As humans cut down wolves' forest homes and hunted down their populations, the lack of available partners for wolves led them to search elsewhere for mates, leading them to coyotes and dogs.
Scientists think this intermixing began with wild wolves in southern Ontario about a century or two ago.
Charles Moreau PhotographyCharles Moreau caught this coywolf pup in Alberta, Canada.The coywolves' success is astounding scientists. According to The Economist:
The animal’s range has encompassed
America’s entire north-east, urban areas included, for at least a
decade, and is continuing to expand in the south-east following
coywolves’ arrival there half a century ago. This is astonishing.
Purebred coyotes never managed to establish themselves east of the
prairies. Wolves were killed off in eastern forests long ago. But by
combining their DNA, the two have given rise to an animal that is able
to spread into a vast and otherwise uninhabitable territory.
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