Every once in a blue moon, I’ll read a news story or hear a report of a coyote that’s been caught within Manhattan.
That’s not shocking in and of itself- there are loads of them in upstate New York, and quite a few in parts of Westchester, which means some could easily get to the Bronx, and MAYBE attempt to cross (via bridge or by swimming) into Manhattan.
While I knew coyotes occasionally made it into Manhattan, I’d assumed that was still extremely rare. But not long ago, a “Law & Order” episode opened with the discovery of a dead body in Central Park that had been partially devoured by coyotes.
So… are the L & O writers full of beans, or ARE there, in fact, a sizable number of wild coyotes living in Manhattan now?
This kind of question seems to come up in every thread regarding species and speciation.
First it should be mentioned that species definitions generally can’t be strictly applied to domestic animals. They are concerned with what happens in nature. The Biological Species Concept, for example, can’t be applied to dogs because they are the product of artificial, not natural, selection. Dogs are currently classified as belonging to the same species as the Gray Wolf more because the modern convention is to classify domestic derivitives as the same species as their ancestors, rather than by application of the BSC.
As **John ** has already indicated, Gray Wolves and Coyotes are regarded as separate species, even though they are interfertile and produce occasional hybrids in the wild, because the current interpretation of the BSC requires that hybridization be common and widespread in order for two populations to be classified as part of the same species. Since coy-wolves are rare under natural conditions, the Gray Wolf and Coyote are certainly good species. It is my understanding that all species in the genus Canis, including wolves, coyotes, dogs, and jackals, are interfertile.
As far as I know, the existence of occasional coyote-dog hybrids is not controversial. What may be controversial is how common they are in the wild in certain areas.
That was my impression, too. Given the very large numbers of coyotes and the even larger number of dogs, it would be absolutely astonishing if occasional matings didn’t take place. I did a quick google search, but didn’t come up with any difinitive cites. Still, I would be flabergasted if dogs and coyotes never mated.