"Coywolf" is an informal term for a canid hybrid descended from coyotes and one of three other North American "Canis" species, the gray, eastern and red wolf. Coyotes are closely related to eastern and red wolves, having diverged 150,000–300,000 years ago and evolved side by side in North America, thus facilitating hybridization. In contrast, hybrids between coyotes and gray wolves, which are Eurasian in origin and diverged from coyotes 1–2 million years ago, are extremely rare. Such hybridization in the wild has only been confirmed in isolated gray wolf populations in the southern USA, while several specimens were produced in captivity via artificial insemination from sperm extracted from northwestern gray wolves introduced to female western coyotes. Hybrids of any combination tend to be larger than coyotes, and show behaviors intermediate between coyotes and the other parent's species. In one captive hybrid experiment, six F 1 hybrid pups from a male northwestern gray wolf and a female coyote were measured shortly after birth with an average on their weights, total lengths, head lengths, body lengths, hind foot lengths, shoulder circumferences, and head circumferences compared with those on pure coyote pups at birth. The results found that, despite being delivered by a female coyote, the hybrid pups at birth were much larger and heavier than regular coyote pups born and measured around the same time. At six months of age, these hybrids were closely monitored at the Wildlife Science Center. Executive Director Peggy Callahan at the facility states that the howls of these hybrids are said to start off much like regular gray wolves with a deep strong vocalization, but changes partway into a coyote-like high pitched yipping. Wiz Science™ is "the" learning channel for children and all ages. SUBSCRIBE TODAY Disclaimer: This video is for your information only. The author or publisher does not guarantee the accuracy of the content presented in this video. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. Background Music: "The Place Inside" by Silent Partner (royalty-free) from YouTube Audio Library. This video uses material/images from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coywolf, which is released under Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ . This video is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ . To reuse/adapt the content in your own work, you must comply with the license terms.

• published: 17 Aug 2015
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