The Coywolves of Albemarle County, Virginia

Discuss other canids (coyotes, foxes, dholes, etc.).

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The Coywolves of Albemarle County, Virginia

Post by Koa » Thu Dec 10, 2015 8:51 am

I passed over this article initially and then realized that Albemarle County sounded familiar-- this is interesting!
Scientific research into Virginia’s coywolf population began in 2011. Dr. Marcella Kelly, professor of wildlife studies at Virginia Tech, has been contracted by Virginia’s Department of Game and Inland Fisheries to study the diets of coywolves. Complaints from deer hunters of dwindling prey in Bath and Rockingham counties prompted the agency to look into whether coywolves are responsible.
Full article:
http://www.c-ville.com/coywolves-albema ... mmPtr_lSXR

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Re: The Coywolves of Albemarle County, Virginia

Post by Azuline » Mon Dec 28, 2015 4:04 pm

I remember hearing about the coywolves a while back! They're very pretty and it's quite fascinating to me that a hybrid has appeared.
I wonder if they have similar traits and behaviors of both species.
Looking forward to hearing more about what scientists can find out about these creatures as the this new year comes around.
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Re: The Coywolves of Albemarle County, Virginia

Post by Koa » Tue Dec 29, 2015 11:08 am

Azuline wrote:I remember hearing about the coywolves a while back! They're very pretty and it's quite fascinating to me that a hybrid has appeared.
I wonder if they have similar traits and behaviors of both species.
Looking forward to hearing more about what scientists can find out about these creatures as the this new year comes around.
Some mentions of coywolf behavior through eastern coyotes (who are coywolves themselves):
What is a coywolf? What is an eastern coyote?
. . . Eastern coyotes, who are hybrids of coyotes and wolves, often form larger packs and hold more extensively territories than western coyotes. They are also capable of taking down white-tailed deer fawns although they mostly subsist on small preys. Also, eastern coyotes have a much thicker layered coat during the winter than their western coyote cousins. This list goes on but we will highlight some of the more in-depth features later of these northeastern coywolves. – contributed by Lucas Fong

What is their social behaviour like?
Coywolves tend to live in small family groups consisting of the adult pair, the growing pups (who usually disperse in autumn), and occasionally adult offspring, although loners or transients seeking territory do occur.

Jonathan Way writes about one case study in the paper Social and Play Behavior in a Wild Eastern Coyote, Canis latrans, Pack: “I had close and consistent observations of a wild eastern Coyote pack (Canis latrans) from January 2000 to August 2007. During this time, I obtained 3156 radio-locations on a specific radio-collared breeding male (“Sill”) and observed him and/or members of his pack on 375 occasions. The average group size = 3.0 ± 2.3 (SD) Coyotes with 1.9 ± 1.2 (SD) being adults and 1.1 ± 1.9 being pups. Maximal group size involved 12 Coyotes (9 pups, 3 adults). During these observations, Coyotes most often behaved in a friendly manner toward each other as indicated by 80 of my observations involving play between pups, and 15 involving play among adult Coyotes. On the evening of 6 July 2007 I observed the breeding male (>8 yr old), his mate (>5 yr old), one of their full-sized probable yearlings, and five pups playing intensely for 33 minutes.”
http://coywolfassociation.org/faq/

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