The western coyote and eastern wolf formed a hybrid called the eastern coyote, also known as the coywolf. The eastern coyote may not be as fit as a pure breed. Hybrids tend to have a harder time adjusting as they have genes from the western coyote and eastern wolf. Many of the eastern coyote populations can be found in places like Ontario, Canada. DNA studies have shown that there is mitochondrial DNA which links the coyotes and the wolves. Since the lowering population of wolves in the 1900’s, the hybridization of the western coyote and eastern wolf has become more prominent.
In 1969-70s, a study showed that the winter diet of the Eastern Coyote in central New York consisted of apple's, field corn, and scavenged animals (Chambers, 2000). The diet in other times mirrored normal coyote diets of small mammals, insects, and fruit. Another study from the 50s show the snowshoe hare as the dietary staple prey of coyotes (Chambers, 2000). Chambers describes their diets as “a shift from a more coyote-like to a more wolf-like diet” (Chambers, 2000). This means that instead of eating smaller mammals and scavenge for food, they tend to go after larger animals and hunt for their food, which requires a higher metabolism rate. Eastern Coyotes studied in the Adirondacks from the 1960s through the 1980s showed proof of an increase in size of prey, primarily becoming deer based. In 2000 the population's diet consisted of 40-50% of the summer diet and 80-90% of the winter diet, suggesting that the species is growing larger and is developing a need for more food. (Chambers, 2000)
Due to the change in the size of the animal we can extrapolate that the metabolism of the animal is higher, although more studies would need to be done. Hybridization or evolution could both impact the the size of a species. In different studies of increased size of coyotes both hybrid and non hybrid species of coyotes have increased in size and changed their diets in cold weather climates. The population of coyotes in studies that represented both Eastern and Rocky mountain show similar changes in size and diet (Pilgrim et al. 1998) . The adirondacks host a similar situation for environment for a population of Eastern coyotes. (Chambers, Robert E. 2000)
When it comes to cell biology, the eastern coyotes are significantly different physically and genetically from their parents. They have ecological and physical characteristics. This means that they have small amounts of gray wolf and a domestic dog’s genes. Studies state that ⅓ of the “coywolf” population’s mitochondrial DNA is derived from the eastern wolf, while another ⅓ is not found in most of the western coyote population (Way et al. 2016).
The eastern coyotes were formed from hybridization, this is the mating of two or more species. Hybridization is a natural process and can be greatly affected by human modifications towards the environment, such as hunting and the deterioration of the planet (Way et al. 2016). Maintaining the environment is essential towards sustaining all normal wildlife activities. A hybrid that has multiple species is very dependent on the environment. These animals have eukaryotic cells, like all other animals. Eukaryotic cells are found in animals, fungi, and plants. These cells are made up of the cell membrane. The nucleus contains DNA, ribosomes, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi bodies, mitochondria, and other organelles. The blood of coyotes and all other mammals have red blood cells without a nucleus. The most vital part of an eastern coyote’s body are the nerve cells because they can transfer information around the body for things such as sound, sight, movement, and other senses. And the skin cells are used for protection. (Way et al. 2016).
Although, the breeding of coywolves has been reported in Ontario, which is where coyotes actually started migrating from the Great Plains during the 1920s, studies provide the first evidence of coywolves in the Northeast, this is where they are also known as northeastern coyotes (Storrs 2009). Hybrids are usually not as fit as regular wolves and coyotes, because of how strong their jaws would allow them to eat, their coyote-like ability to coexist with humans can be one of the advantages that wolves lack (Storrs, 2009).
Eastern coyotes contain DNA from western coyotes and eastern wolves. The family units obtain an unrelated breeding pair and offspring. This study was on sixty-seven animals in the mitochondrial DNA control region. Coy-wolfs reproduce in the fall and give birth in the winter. This is unlike wild canid matting which mates in the winter and gives birth in the spring. When looking at the haplotype frequency between males and females, there did not seem to be any sex bias. The haplotype frequency shows the re-occurrence of the genes in males and in females. Genetic diversity came from the C. Latrans (Coyotes) and C. lycaon (Eastern Wolves), which was shown through the mtDNA (Way 2010). mtDNA, or mitochondrial DNA is found in the mitochondria and is inherited from the mother.
In another study, the focus was on eastern wolves being viewed as a smaller species of gray wolf (Canis lupus lycaon). After the coyotes spread to the east in the 1800s, interbreeding started between C. lycaon to C. lupus and C. latrans. The hybridization helped to enhance the adaptive potential of eastern wolves. By using mtDNA restriction data, many of the wolves had haplotypes that were identical to the ones in western coyotes (Kyle et. al 2006). This shows that the genes have come from the western coyotes.
One gene that was focused on was the mtDNA cytochrome b gene. This gene was from seventeen pre-1940 red wolves. It was found that the red wolves and the coyotes were not monophyletic. Instead, they were interspersed throughout the parsimonious phylogenetic tree. They concluded that the parsimonious tree could have a coyote haplotype in a monophyletic clade (Kyle et. al 2006).
Another study genetically profiled eight loci. There was sequences of coyote in red wolves and eastern Canadian wolves. The sequences of DNA that were found were between 150,000 and 300,000 years apart. From this, it was gathered that both species share common lineage with the coyote from 150,000 to 300,000 years ago. The study proposed that the original species that then became a hybrid was the Canis lycaon (Wilson, 2000).
Evolution is the genetic change among species over time, allowing them to better adapt to the environment, which is the basis of natural selection (Mader and Windelspecht, 2015). Our organism is a great example of both definitions that you read above. North America was once dominated by the Eastern Coyote, that is, before the European settlement. A mixture of deforestation and hunting in the 1900’s eliminated this high population of wolves, which was soon replaced by smaller coyotes. The larger, more dominant wolves were forced to mate with the smaller coyotes, resulting in this new species. (Galvez et al. 2015). According to Kays, Curtis, and Kirchman, Ontario was the area where the Eastern Coyotes lived and had a much higher migration rate than the rest of North America. They also talked about how the breeding of the coyotes and wolves created a hybrid, that now plays a huge role in ecology due to the effects of the European settlement we previously mentioned. This was the beginning of adaptation for the Eastern Coyotes as now they can live in urban areas. The Eastern Coyotes have been seen raising their pups in drainage ditches and old pipes in Washington D.C., where it is heavily populated with humans (Levy, 2012).
Compared to the normal, smaller coyotes, Eastern Coyotes have a larger jaw, but smaller ears. Their legs and body are elongated, as well as a bushier tail (Galves et al. 2015). These new features greatly resembled that of a wolf, and not so much the coyote, this is due to the mitochondrial genetics passed on from the wolves because of dominance of the wolf genes, explained above. Not only did the wolves pass down a trait that can be successful, the coyotes did too. While the wolves passed down their strong jaws, that allow the Eastern Coyote to eat deer that are abundant, the Coyotes passed down their small size which allows them to coexist with humans which can be seen as an advantage, that ancestors previously could not do (Storrs 2009).