Coyote-wolf hybrids coming to a park near you?

National Geographic News just posted a pretty interesting story about how coyotes are breeding with wolves in the Great Lakes area, and are now moving southward. These "hybrids" migrated east into New England, and have moved down the Appalachian chain and into Northern Virginia.

A DNA study published in the Journal of Mammalogy last month, "found evidence that Virginia coyotes have mated with Great Lakes wolves but not with the rare red wolf, which is hanging on in just a few isolated spots in the U.S. South."

Interestingly, the report also mentions that a third of the coyote-wolf hybrids diet is from deer. You would have to think that they'll eventually make their way into the Great Smoky Mountains at some point. You can read the full article here.


Jeff
HikingintheSmokys.com

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