The Coywolf: A Unique Mix of Dog, Wolf, and Coyote

The coywolf might sound like a creature from a sci-fi story, but it's a real hybrid, combining traits of the coyote (Canis latrans), gray wolf (Canis lupus), and domestic dog (Canis familiaris). This unique mix has been observed in Canada and the U.S. over the last century.

It's likely that they originated when coyotes migrated into Ontario as wolves were disappearing from the Great Lakes area in the early 1900s, leading to interbreeding with the remaining wolf populations. Genetic studies suggest they also mated with dogs around the mid-1900s.

Coywolves — the name we've settled on — appear to flourish in urban and suburban environments, much like their genetically pure Canis latrans counterparts.

Nevertheless, they exhibit slight physical variations and distinct behavioral and physiological traits. Known for their boldness, they tend to be more collaborative, possess greater strength and size, and reach sexual maturity at a later stage.

Coywolves Aren't Like Other Hybrids

What defines a species? Traditionally, two animals were considered the same species if they could reproduce and produce fertile offspring. However, coywolves, despite being hybrids, are capable of producing viable offspring.

In contrast, a horse and a donkey, while able to produce offspring, are not the same species since their hybrid, the mule, is sterile. Yet, some hybrids are fertile, raising questions about their classification.

Creating a new species is a lengthy process, often taking hundreds of thousands or even millions of years, so even a fertile hybrid remains just that — a hybrid.

So, why aren't coywolves sterile like mules? The concept of species is far more complex and nuanced than we once thought.

Genetics

Since all dog species possess 76 chromosomes, and coyotes and wolves diverged genetically only around 100,000 years ago, they are still in the process of evolving separately. This allows them to produce fertile offspring.

When examining a coywolf's genome, we can identify the proportions of coyote, wolf, and domestic dog DNA. They're distinct, yet not entirely different.

The genetic makeup of any coywolf varies by location, but all are hybrids of wolves, coyotes, and domestic dogs. (When only coyote and dog DNA is present, it's referred to as a coydog.)

Adaptation of the Eastern Coyote

A 2011 genetic study on hybrid canids in eastern North America revealed that coyote DNA makes up 60 to 84 percent of their genetic material, with 8 to 25 percent wolf and approximately 10 percent dog DNA.

As you move further south and east, the proportion of wolf DNA decreases while dog DNA increases. In the Deep South, the ratio shifts to roughly 91 percent coyote, 4 percent wolf, and 5 percent dog.

A 2015 article based on research from North Carolina State University found that nearly all eastern coyotes in the U.S. exhibit some level of hybridization in their genetics.

In areas where their territories overlapped with eastern wolves or feral dogs, interbreeding was inevitable. Today, "pure coyotes" are far less common than coyote-wolf hybrids.

Coywolves do not qualify as a distinct species; such a classification would require a much longer evolutionary process than a single century.

Scientists find it fascinating to observe this hybridization in real-time, watching coyote-eastern wolf hybrids expand across regions and noting how coyotes incorporate DNA from other dog species to enhance their effectiveness as apex predators in human-dominated environments.

Hybridization in Western Coyotes

While most coywolf research focuses on eastern canid populations, there is strong evidence suggesting similar interbreeding between western coyotes and neighboring wolf groups.

A 2013 experiment by the Northern Prairie Research Center successfully bred captive western gray wolves with western coyotes, resulting in healthy offspring that lived long enough to reproduce and produce fertile young.

Given that these two species naturally cross paths in the wild, it's probable that hybridization has occurred without any human involvement.