On 1/9/2017 6:19 PM, wrote:
On Monday, January 9, 2017 at 2:30:50 PM UTC-8, AMuzi wrote:

Saw this in Science News;

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/...n-wolf-species

DNA says coyotes/wolves overlap quite a bit now.

Andrew, these are called hybrids and they don't occur normally nor in high numbers. In Yellowstone wolves kill coyotes, they don't just chase them away like they do elsewhere.

Hybridization 98% of the time causes less fitter specimens. This is why we have wolves and coyotes as separate species in the first place.

There are no magic words to DNA. Wolves and coyotes certainly overlapped after all they have the same ancestors. But the ways that you tell when DNA differences occurred is extremely roundabout. I have not seen a DNA analysis that actually made a study beyond saying that this coyote has DNA from a wolf in it and that one doesn't and that somehow sets a time period. It doesn't because the absence of the wolf DNA can be the evolution and not a hybridization in the opposite direction.

Regardless of Doug's chanting that was not a wolf. It was very large, ran WAY too far and too fast. Within my eyesight it ran full speed for over a mile before getting out of sight. Scavengers like coyotes do not have running stamina.

And those pictures that you're showing are from zoo animals. They are far too well fed. So similarities in appearances aren't as they look in the wild. In fact http://tinyurl.com/jog39fh


Thank you.

I am not an expert. I read across a variety of areas and
sorta half remember things once in a while. When this
discussion turned to taxonomy of wolves versus coyotes, I
remembered reading that article. Aside from the stock images
shown, the actual research was intriguing.

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971