Science of The Day: Coyotes and Wolves Are Mating to Create The 'Coywolf'

There a new species emerging right before scientist's eyes. And this doesn't happen very often.

Because of a lack of other wolves to mate with, scientists believe they are mating with coyotes and dogs to create an entirely new species: the coywolf.

The number of coywolf has grown into the millions in northeastern North America during the last century.

According to The Economist:

The mixing of genes that has created the coywolf has been more rapid, pervasive and transformational than many once thought. Javier Monzón, who worked until recently at Stony Brook University in New York state (he is now at Pepperdine University, in California) studied the genetic make-up of 437 of the animals, in ten north-eastern states plus Ontario. He worked out that, though coyote DNA dominates, a tenth of the average coywolf's genetic material is dog and a quarter is wolf.

The DNA from both wolves and dogs (the latter mostly large breeds, like Doberman Pinschers and German Shepherds), brings big advantages, says Dr Kays. At 25kg or more, many coywolves have twice the heft of purebred coyotes. With larger jaws, more muscle and faster legs, individual coywolves can take down small deer. A pack of them can even kill a moose.

Basically the combination of wolf, coyote and dog DNA has created super fast killing machines.

Hold your children close, America.