Can coyotes & wolves cross?

[Cheryl in SD]

Yesterday morning we had a dog that looked very like a coyote in our front yard. He was the same color, same tail, same attitude, BUT he had a wolf looking head & was the size of a wolf. Can they cross?

p.s. I just want to say, this would be hugely unlikely here as we don't have wolves. But could they cross with a really large dog?

[cchapman84]

Yes, any kind of canine can cross-breed. About the only dog-type animal that can't breed with the other's is a fox. Domestic dogs, coyotes, wolves, dingos, and just about any other kind of "dog" can breed with any of the others.

[Filas are Prima]

Sure could have been one of those wolf-dog hybrids that the idiots are deliberately breeding to sell to the public.
Wolves crosses always, I believe, have those stilt legs, longest you've ever seen, like a wolf does. And that straight wolf tail always passes, too.

[trappmountain]

Yes. In fact they say that the coyote's in the north east are all wolf x's. That is how they ended up here after so many years. That's what I read anyway.

[ET1 SS]

Folks cross-breed wolves and dogs; as well as coyotes and dogs. So they are truly all one species.

The same with most cats.

[tinknal]

They can crossbreed but is unlikly in the wild as they are natural enemys.

[pancho]

Usually the coyote is prey for the wolf. It is possible that people have crossed them but in the wild it does not happen. One reason for the widespread of the coyote was the elimination of the wolf.

[crashy]

We have a coyote/shepard. Was told the mom was tied up when she got mated with the said coyote. Could be a story but she acts like a coyote and kinda looks like one. And her feet are not like a dogs they look like coyote feet. She smells but we love her!!
We have even trained her NOT to kill the chickens she has not killed a chickens in 2 years now.

[donsgal]

Originally Posted by Cheryl in SD

Yesterday morning we had a dog that looked very like a coyote in our front yard. He was the same color, same tail, same attitude, BUT he had a wolve looking head & was the size of a wolf. Can they cross?

p.s. I just want to say, this would be hugely unlikely here as we don't have wolves. But could they cross with a really large dog?

I have seen a few coyotes in my day that were so large I thought they were wolves. One was eating some carrion along a Texas highway and I promise you that critter weighed 100 pounds if it weighed an ounce. (and it was mangy, so NO it wasn't hair).

My opinion is that there is some cross-breeding going on, sure. Also, I think that coyotes that eat a lot of garbage and other "people" food get larger than those that don't. JMO.

Donsgal

[suburbanite]

Wolves would sooner kill a coyote than mate with it.

I think that they are genetically able to cross (if you did it in captivity, for example) but behaviorally they don't in the wild.

Wolves in Yellowstone seem to try to eradicate coyotes from their territories.

[Cash]

While wolves will drive coyotes out of their hunting territory, the two species actually interbreed quite often. Two years ago some coyote researchers in New York and Maine tested the DNA of more than a hundred coyotes in the Northeast, and found that every single one contained some percentage of wolf genes, one as high as 87 percent.

Northeastern coyotes might be the exception, but the theory is that after the native wolves and coyotes were exterminated from the region around the turn of the last century, coyotes from the Great Plains began migrating east. Along the way, they interbred with wolves in Canada. That's the major reason our coyotes up here are bigger than those out west. One of our names for them is "brush wolves."

[Sand Flat Bob]

Originally Posted by donsgal

I have seen a few coyotes in my day that were so large I thought they were wolves. One was eating some carrion along a Texas highway and I promise you that critter weighed 100 pounds if it weighed an ounce. (and it was mangy, so NO it wasn't hair).

My opinion is that there is some cross-breeding going on, sure. Also, I think that coyotes that eat a lot of garbage and other "people" food get larger than those that don't. JMO.

Donsgal

Wolves are much bigger than most people think. Easy to see why the early settlers were intent on killing all the wolves. I have a neighbor who did breed the cross wolf/dog for sale. He had 3 purebred female and one male. When the male died, I helped bury him with my tractor front end loader. The male weighed 250 pounds, much bigger than my English mastiff who weighed 210 pounds. Never had coyotes around when the wolves were alive. When they howled at night, you never saw a trace of coyote within several miles. After the wolves all died, we had coyotes in our front yard.

Bob

[Thoughthound]

I don't know a thing about this, but, if I was the lowest wolf in a pack who never got to breed, I think a female coyote might look pretty good to me.

[pancho]

Some people are posting about what happens when coyotes and wolves are penned. This is not what happens in the wild. Many different animals have been forced to crossbreed in captivity that would have never done so in the wild. Man can force many things on animals. When animals are free they make their own choices. That is the reason we have all the different species.

[tinknal]

Originally Posted by pancho

Some people are posting about what happens when coyotes and wolves are penned. This is not what happens in the wild. Many different animals have been forced to crossbreed in captivity that would have never done so in the wild. Man can force many things on animals. When animals are free they make their own choices. That is the reason we have all the different species.

True, but it is also true that animals are oppertunists. I think it is concievable that a lone wolf (one kicked out of a pack) could hook up with a coyote, especially if the wolf was a male.

[pancho]

Originally Posted by tinknal

True, but it is also true that animals are oppertunists. I think it is concievable that a lone wolf (one kicked out of a pack) could hook up with a coyote, especially if the wolf was a male.

More than likely if a lone wolf, especially male, was kicked out of the pack they would have to hunt by themselves and would see the coyote as dinner.

Many times in the wild food is more important than sex. In captivity, where the food is given to them every time they are hungry, it is completely different.

[DQ]

I don't have any up to date info on this but I know that years ago the so called "red wolf" , found (I think) mainly in the mexico/texas southwest area were considered likely wolf coyote hybrids, I'm not sure what the research concluded. the debate was over whether they were indeed a type all there own and deserved protection. here's a 98% (whatever ) wolf/ malamute they can definitly interbreed! I was a dumb@%# kid when I got him he is now 13 and still going strong, he just won't DIE! I love him, he's just a royal pain.

[pancho]

The red wolf was a separate species. What happened to them was caused by man. The clearing of forests in the southeast reduces a natural barrier and brought the coyote into contact with the red wolf. Also the poisoniing program between 1937 and 1969 destroyed a large number of red wolves. The results was the coyote interbred with the red wolves and nearly totally absorbed the red wolf. It was completely caused by man. The animals left without mans intervention would never have mixed.

[tooltime]

Pancho,

I wonder what you think of this observation:

The only difference in the coyotes east of the Ms. and those west of the Ms. is the enviroment. The coyotes east of the Ms. tend to be larger because of the land, cover, prey, and enviroment.
The coyotes west of the Ms. are mostly desendents of the desert coyote which is a smaller animal. This is because of the lack of cover and less prey. They are the same animal.

[pancho]

Originally Posted by tooltime

Pancho,

I wonder what you think of this observation:

I agree. The difference in the enviroment will nake some difference in size. The amount and kind of food will make some difference.
From what I can find out the ones in the east descended from the more aggressive coyotes left over from the many different programas designed to get rid of the coyotes.
Living in the desert will put a limit on size that those in the east do not have.