Coywolf - Greater than the sum of it's parts

AutomaticEarth · Post by **AutomaticEarth** » 03 Nov 2015, 22:56

Not the sort of thing I'd normally post but was really taken by this:-

http://www.economist.com/news/science-a ... tists-eyes

Amazing that evolution can move so quickly.

vtsnowedin · Post by **vtsnowedin** » 03 Nov 2015, 23:32

They have been common around my home for forty years or more. I have yet to see one that looked like it had any dog DNA in it's cells. Wolves tend to eat them not breed them so I lay their increase in size to the snow cover we have here in average winters that thins out the small western adapted members and favors the larger wolf like individuals that fit into a ecological niche that was vacated by the grey wolf at the hands of bounty hunters.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » 04 Nov 2015, 11:07

Evolution moves fast when pressure is put on it. Us humans are putting massive pressure on it, as this and many other examples show.

vtsnowedin · Post by **vtsnowedin** » 04 Nov 2015, 11:35

emordnilap wrote:Evolution moves fast when pressure is put on it. Us humans are putting massive pressure on it, as this and many other examples show.

Coyotes are very clever and adaptable. I have chased one down the street of Hull Mass. which lies on a peninsula on the south side of Boston harbor. Nothing but ocean on three sides and fully built up suburbia on the other for miles behind him. They ( always travel in pairs plus young of the year) must be making do with suburban squirrels and pet food left out plus a knocked over trash can or two. Stray cats must be taking it hard as well. Another young one I shot was eating field corn from the field he was living in so had a ten acre dinner table with some mice and chipmunks on the side.