Missouri wolf or coyote, take two
Several days ago I blogged that the Missouri Department of Conservation had announced an animal shot by a hunter in November was a coyote and not a wolf has had been believed. DNA evidence was credited for the identification.
Missouri wildlife officials said DNA evidence shows this animal shot during their recent deer season is a just a large coyotes.
Several readers, though, say there's no way an animal that reportedly weighed 104 pounds can be a pure coyote.
They have a point. Take a look at the photo.
I've seen a lot of coyotes but none that were half the size of the animal in the photos sent to me by a mutual friend of the deer hunter who pulled the trigger.
(At the time, he thought he was shooting a coyote. He called a local game warden as soon as he saw the animal's size and appearance.)
Does that look like a coyote to you? Me neither.
A little research shows it could be a wild wolf with some coyote DNA in its gene pool.--most of the Eastern Wolves in the Great Lakes States(C.lupus x lycaon) show some coyote genes..........a canid soup with more northern and western gray wolves(C.lupus) mixing with C.lupus x lycaon) which in turn has has hybridization turns with C.latrans and C.lycaon x latrans(Western coyotes and Eastern coyotes)...........confused, so what? enjoy the ever changing wolf/coyote evolution going on in our midst--blogger Rick
Wolf, coyote or hybrid? It's a rare and huge midwestern coyote that makes it to 50 pounds. This animal was more than twice that size.
It's possible the animal is any sort of mixture of a wolf, coyote, domestic dog hybrid.
None of the above would be out of the question.
Pure wolves have wandered as far south as Missouri from packs around the Great Lakes.
Wolf/dog hybrids are sold as pets.
But sorry, MDOC, I'm not buying that it is just an abnormally large coyote based on the photos.

Missouri wildlife officials said DNA evidence shows this animal shot during their recent deer season is a just a large coyotes.
Several readers, though, say there's no way an animal that reportedly weighed 104 pounds can be a pure coyote.
They have a point. Take a look at the photo.
I've seen a lot of coyotes but none that were half the size of the animal in the photos sent to me by a mutual friend of the deer hunter who pulled the trigger.
(At the time, he thought he was shooting a coyote. He called a local game warden as soon as he saw the animal's size and appearance.)
Does that look like a coyote to you? Me neither.
A little research shows it could be a wild wolf with some coyote DNA in its gene pool.--most of the Eastern Wolves in the Great Lakes States(C.lupus x lycaon) show some coyote genes..........a canid soup with more northern and western gray wolves(C.lupus) mixing with C.lupus x lycaon) which in turn has has hybridization turns with C.latrans and C.lycaon x latrans(Western coyotes and Eastern coyotes)...........confused, so what? enjoy the ever changing wolf/coyote evolution going on in our midst--blogger Rick

Wolf, coyote or hybrid? It's a rare and huge midwestern coyote that makes it to 50 pounds. This animal was more than twice that size.
It's possible the animal is any sort of mixture of a wolf, coyote, domestic dog hybrid.
None of the above would be out of the question.
Pure wolves have wandered as far south as Missouri from packs around the Great Lakes.
Wolf/dog hybrids are sold as pets.
But sorry, MDOC, I'm not buying that it is just an abnormally large coyote based on the photos.
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