Wolf or Coyote?

[fishpharmer]

Jeff, I keep forgetting about that white stuff, snow.   Even without a size reference they look big.  I will vote wolf.

[SwampDonkey]

This is our coyotes.



A fella shot a confirmed wolf a year ago and it's a bigger and longer legged critter. The feet are also a bit bigger.

[Sprucegum]

Yes, our Canadian wolves have longer legs and smaller bellies - don't eat enough grits, I guess.

[hardtailjohn]

Definitely wolves. We get to see 'em up close and personal here.... hope you're ready for a decline in game.

[WDH]

This might explain some scarcity in the deer population.

[Magicman]

Welcome  loghorse.  How about an introduction about yourself and your sawing/logging interest?   

[chain]

Survey sez........wolves!  I know all furbrearers in the North country have heavy fur this time of year, moreso than our skinny 'yotes around here. If we could just see the animal's paws, wolves have hugh paws, i've been told.

[giant splinter]

I will go with Wolves and maybe young or even some hybrid mix involved. I am looking at wolf ears on these two and I think the coyote has a little longer ear in my view.

[Ron Scott]

Wolves! Great pictures.

[Okrafarmer]

My dad always said the coyotes in Maine (talking mid '80's now) were really wolves but the locals just didn't know any better than to call them coyotes. He caught two females in traps the last year he trapped (winter of 87/88, I believe) and he said based on the size there was no way they were coyotes. But you have to realize that he brought his perspective to Maine from Oregon, where he lived until 1977, and according to him, the coyotes of Oregon were little 25 lb. yippy-yap things.

They're all descended from dog-kind, and from what I understand, they can all generally interbreed with each other and domesticated dogs. Sometimes within a genus the form of a species is rather fluid. You can see this phenomenon in domesticated animals, where, with human assistance, you have the variation of dogs where there are huge St. Bernards, little chihuahuas, and 200 or more other breeds of dog within the same species. Take any two breeds of dog (assuming they are physically able to mate), and they will have mutt puppies. Let two mutts from totally different backgrounds mate, and you end up with thoroughly mixed up mutts. Sometimes you get dogs that look one way, sometimes another way.  If you were to assemble 200 male and 200 female dogs, from 200 different established breeds, and let them go wild and all live together in a large confined space where they could hunt their own food and fend for themselves, within a certain number of generations, you would start to see a sort of uniformity emerge as to the body type of dog that did well in that particular environment. If the environment changed, for any reason, in a few more generations, you would start to see more changes in the characteristics. Theoretically a wild population can fluctuate back and forth quite a bit over time, in terms of characteristics.

To sum it up, in my opinion, the terms wolf, coyote, and dog are all somewhat relative. They are all dog-kind.

In terms of established vernacular, a wolf would be a big wild one. A coyote would be a wild one that matures smaller. And a dog is a domesticated one.

[WDH]

However, according to behavior, they are vastly different.

[Bibbyman]

Many years ago - '67 or '68 - I was taking Mary home from a date.  We topped a rise in the narrow gravel road and the headlights fell on something standing in the road.  At first I figured it was a deer.  Deer was a rare sight back then.   But it raised its head and it was definitely not a deer but a wolf. It was already broadside the road.  In a split second it turned its head and leaped from the center of the road over the fence.  The road and right of way was narrow but still the leap was most impressive.

Wolf?   Conservation Department would tell you no. But they said that for many years about mountain lions.  It was big enough to take for a deer, definitely canine, and definitely wild.

The Conservation Department was accused of releasing wolves.  But they denied it.

[Axe Handle Hound]

The color pattern and the muzzles look definitely wolfish to me, but I'm having issues with them looking so short.  Wolves are tall, really tall whereas those guys look short to me.  It's always hard to tell when there's nothing to reference size against in the photo and when they have winter fur on, but I'm going to lean towards young male wolves that were recently pushed out by the alpha.

     

[ely]

3 guys in the office say wolves, never seen one one for real, but we do know coyotes.... i say make rugs out  of them.

[Okrafarmer]

However, according to behavior, they are vastly different.

Yes indeed. (At least sometimes!)

Beside Profdan's house there are some spanish-speaking people who have a wolf-hybrid dog chained up outside (with a doghouse). That critter will howl any time he hears a police or emergency siren. When we hear the siren, next thing you know, the wolf-dog is mimicking the siren, matching it's pitch and tone almost exactly, but about 2-3 seconds behind, like he's echoing it.

We didn't know, but another neighbor who can see the wolf-dog and Profdan's fence from her house told us the other day that Profdan's donkey jumped over the fence a few weeks ago, attacked the wolf-dog, gave it a few choice kicks and bites, and then jumped back over the fence. I've been meaning to go by and see how the dog looks, but keep forgetting. The people who own the dog there wouldn't be the type to make a formal complaint. . . .

[hardtailjohn]

Contrary to some "experts" beliefs.... wolves eat coyotes.  You can always tell when the wolves come back here...no coyotes. No howls at night, no seeing them in the day...they're gone, and the ones that don't go... die.  Seen it for the past 20 years here. The wolves have also taken care of most of our cats (mountain lion, bobcat, etc.).  They're  called an "Apex" predator for a reason!

[Okrafarmer]

That's pretty impressive if they wipe out mountain lions.  :-\

[Bibbyman]

Last time we visited the Cody Wyoming area they said the bear problem was getting worse because the wolves were driving the elk out of Yellowstone and the bear were following the elk.

[Corley5]

  There are wolves here in the Lower Penisula west of Topinabee.  The DNR has trapped, tagged and DNA tested some of them.  Some are actually a wolf coyote hybrid.  The tests show from a female wolf male coyote relationship    They will cross when their own species aren't numerous enough to breed true.
  We've seen a large canine in the neighborhood a couple times.  It's a large dark marked animal.  Wolf or a wolf coyote or an exceptionally large coyote?  I don't know 

[blackfoot griz]

Last time we visited the Cody Wyoming area they said the bear problem was getting worse because the wolves were driving the elk out of Yellowstone and the bear were following the elk.

Bibbyman...not so sure that the elk are being "driven" out of the park. I did a quick google search and discovered the resident elk herd in Yellowstone has dropped dramatically.  In 1992, there were 20,000 elk.  2011 just a little over 4,000. >:(
The wolves (as Hardtail John referred to) also hammered the coyote population in Yellowstone.

[chevytaHOE5674]

Around "here" we have a healthy wolf population as well as a healthy coyote and deer population. Big equalization of populations over here is winter mortality. One bad winter can just about wipe out the deer heard which then wipes out the predators as well.

[Bibbyman]

Last time we visited the Cody Wyoming area they said the bear problem was getting worse because the wolves were driving the elk out of Yellowstone and the bear were following the elk.

Bibbyman...not so sure that the elk are being "driven" out of the park. I did a quick google search and discovered the resident elk herd in Yellowstone has dropped dramatically.  In 1992, there were 20,000 elk.  2011 just a little over 4,000. >:(
The wolves (as Hardtail John referred to) also hammered the coyote population in Yellowstone.

That's what the locals told us.

[OlJarhead]

Wolves are moving in around our property (within miles of it not right on it) and I've noticed the coyotes seem to be thinning out a little...

Cougars and Deer still running around though