What Is a Coywolf? Eastern Coyote Hybrids Explained

Where did the coywolf come from?

Until the 1800s, coyotes lived mainly in the West, while the eastern forests belonged to wolves. As settlers cleared forests and killed wolves, coyotes began moving east. Around the Great Lakes, in southern Ontario and nearby areas, they met the last remaining wolves.

With few wolves left to pair with, some wolves mated with coyotes. Their mixed offspring spread east into New York and New England from the 1930s and 1940s, and later reached Atlantic Canada. Along the way, some coyotes also mated with dogs, adding a small amount of dog DNA.

What does DNA show?

Genetic studies of thousands of northeastern coyotes give a fairly consistent picture. On average, the eastern coyote’s genome is mostly coyote, roughly 60–65 percent, with about a quarter from wolves and around 10 percent from domestic dogs. Different studies give slightly different numbers.

The mix varies by place. Coyotes in deer-rich, forested areas tend to carry more wolf DNA, while those in cities and farmland often carry more coyote DNA. Coyotes in much of the West carry little or no wolf ancestry.

Why the name coywolf is debated

Some researchers argue that the eastern coyote is distinctive enough to count as a new kind of animal, and a few have even proposed a separate species name for it. Many others disagree, for several reasons:

• Eastern coyotes are still genetically mostly coyote.
• They also carry dog ancestry, so “coywolf” tells only part of the story.
• Many coyotes outside the Northeast, for example in the Midwest and Southeast, also carry smaller amounts of wolf DNA, so there is no sharp line.

For these reasons, wildlife agencies and most scientists call the animal the eastern coyote and treat it as part of the species Canis latrans. The coyote’s IUCN Red List status, Least Concern, covers it.

How big is a coywolf compared with a coyote and a wolf?

Eastern coyotes are clearly larger and heavier than their western cousins, with longer legs, a wider skull and bigger jaws. Many weigh around 14–20 kg (30–45 lb), and occasional large males are heavier. Western coyotes are often about 9–14 kg (20–30 lb), while gray wolves typically weigh 23–55 kg (50–120 lb).

The extra size seems to help eastern coyotes hunt white-tailed deer, which are a bigger part of their diet than for most western coyotes. In color, eastern coyotes range from dark brown to blond or reddish, with gray-brown the most common. They also reach breeding age later, often at about two years old.

How eastern coyotes live

Apart from size, eastern coyotes behave much like other coyotes. They live in families built around a mated pair, defend territories, howl and yip at night, and raise pups in spring. Their home ranges tend to be larger than those of western coyotes, probably because they need more space to find deer and other larger prey.

Their diet changes with the seasons. Rabbits, hares, rodents and deer carcasses are important in winter, while summer brings fawns, small mammals, birds, insects and berries. Studies in New York found that much of the adult deer meat eaten in winter came from scavenging, not from kills.

Eastern coyotes are now common in suburbs and even cities, including Boston and New York. Like other coyotes, they rarely cause problems for people, but feeding them can make them bold.

The eastern wolf and red wolf questions

The coywolf story is tied to two other debated canids. The eastern wolf, also called the Algonquin wolf, lives mainly in and around Algonquin Provincial Park in Ontario. Some scientists consider it a distinct species, Canis lycaon; others see it as an old blend of gray wolf and coyote.

The red wolf of the southeastern United States raises similar questions. Genome studies find a large amount of coyote ancestry in it, but some researchers argue it is still a distinct, ancient North American wolf. The red wolf is critically endangered, with only a few dozen in the wild in eastern North Carolina, and mating with coyotes is one of its main threats.

Coywolf vs coyote vs wolf

In the field, an eastern coyote looks like a big, heavy-coated coyote, with pointed ears and a narrow muzzle, and it carries its tail low when running. A wolf is much larger, with longer legs, a broad blocky muzzle and shorter, rounder ears. For a full side-by-side guide, see wolf vs coyote.