Welcome to the 19th edition of Windows on Wildlife! If you have a recent post about wildlife you’d like to share – it can be anything: birds, insects, mammals – scroll down to the end of the post and add your site; a compilation of all additions will be posted the following week. Please don’t forget to link back here (I’d love it if you’d add the Windows on Wildlife button to your post which you can find on our sidebar) and visit other blogs that have articles to share. Thanks for stopping by!
Photo by Dr. Jon Way, http://EasternCoyoteResearch.com
This weekend, I was invited by the Friends of Gertrude Boyden Wildlife Refuge in Taunton, MA to present on eastern coyotes and wolves, and their history here in New England. Some of the information I presented on can be found in a past article I wrote on eastern coyotes and wolves, and the rest I am slowly working on putting together into a book that I hope to get published some time next year.
But one point that I raised on Saturday is worth repeating here, and that is the growing use of the term ‘coywolf’ when talking about eastern coyotes. This term was coined by Dr. Jon Way, a coyote biologist who has been studying eastern coyotes/coywolves for many years in eastern Massachusetts. Coywolves are still biologically classified as the same species as western coyotes – Canis latrans – which can be confusing when trying to talk about the differences between them.
Adding to this confusion is the increased understanding of the role of eastern wolves in the northeast – a species (Canis lycaon) that hybridized with coyotes when they migrated east following wolf extirpation in the US during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. This hybridization is what has given us the canine that now resides in New England – the coywolf. An animal that contains wolf DNA, unlike western coyotes. My article on eastern coyote morphology covers many of the physical differences found between coywolves/eastern coyotes and western coyotes, so I won’t cover that again here. I feel that clarifying the distinction between these animals through the use of a new name for eastern coyotes bears repeating. Loads more info on coywolves and coyotes in my eastern coyote pages here at Withywindle Nature (yes, I’m working on re-naming them).
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Fergiemoto shared an incredible shot of a Tiger Swallowtail butterfly nectaring at a brilliant red flower. I can’t say I’ve ever really studied their bodies, and was amazed at the beautiful coloring that covers their head, thorax and abdomen, in addition to their wings. So gorgeous!! And happy to see Jenny from Cheetahs in my Shoes back! She has some beautiful photos of red pandas which aren’t actually bears at all, but more closely related to raccoons and weasels. Very cute!!
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Great post. Boom & Gary of the Vermilon River, Canada.
Thanks Boom and Gary!!
I remember reading about these in one of your articles and it is so interesting..thank goodness someone is out there on their side like you…. and thank you for the comments regarding my Mother’s illness and passing.. I appreciate it..Michelle
It’s frustrating how much mis-information about coyotes is out there, and that they’re still considered pests. I guess the silver lining is that it keeps me busy!
My sympathy again on the loss of your mother – I know it was a rough time leading up to her passing, and I hope that you’re able to find solace as time moves forward.