# What is this animal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 11, 2008, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal/456094 "2008-07-11T05:25:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal/456094/21 "2008-07-11T16:30:17Z")
According to [wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyote), they’re less packish than wolves, but still pretty packish compared to most animals. But certainly the more packish the better, and the geography is certainly a very good point. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal/456094/22 "2008-07-11T16:31:43Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] Yes, all members of the genus \*Canis \*are interfertile. One difference between coyotes and wolves that might make domestication more difficult is that coyotes are not pack animals. [/QUOTE] They aren’t? They howl in packs. Really creepy noise, that. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal/456094/23 "2008-07-11T16:45:19Z")
[QUOTE=Renee] They aren’t? They howl in packs. Really creepy noise, that. [/QUOTE] A coyote “pack” is usually a male/female pair and some of their young. That’s not the same thing as a wolf pack, and not as easily translatable into human bonding. I’m not saying it’s impossible, just pointing out a difference that could be significant. And we really don’t know how the domestication of the dog happened anyway. It could have been quick, or it might have played out over thousands of years. We might have driven the process, or it might have just occurred naturally. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal/456094/24 "2008-07-11T16:47:25Z")
I feel the need to post this: [http://dailycoyote.blogspot.com/](http://dailycoyote.blogspot.com/) ---
**Author:** ![El\_DeLuxo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_deluxo/32/9043_2.png) [@El\_DeLuxo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_DeLuxo)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal/456094/25 "2008-07-11T22:17:02Z")
Judging by the size and looks of him, I agree with those who’ve opined that your mystery canid’s probably a coyote/dog crossbreed; either that or a youngish dog who happens to have a lot of coyote-looking features. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2008, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal/456094/26 "2008-07-11T22:34:30Z")
The third picture, the one taken from the back, looks most like a coyote. I’m leaning more towards coyote. Tell your neighbor to be vigilant and take more pictures! Does your property back up to a wooded area? If so, then it seems even more likely that it is a coyote. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2008, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal/456094/27 "2008-07-12T03:02:39Z")
> [@](#): > > Coyotes only appear in the Western Hemisphere, ie the Americas, while the Gray wolf appeared all over the Nothern Hemisphere, both in North America and Eurasia, where there was a significantly larger population of humans. Really? I had understood that the North American canines all came over the Bering land bridge, same as humans, and at about the same time. Were there once coyotes in Eurasia that since died out there, or did coyotes diverge from grey wolves after the wolves came over here, or did the coyotes precede the wolves here (perhaps in a prior ice age)? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2008, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal/456094/28 "2008-07-12T03:49:43Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] Really? I had understood that the North American canines all came over the Bering land bridge, same as humans, and at about the same time. Were there once coyotes in Eurasia that since died out there, or did coyotes diverge from grey wolves after the wolves came over here, or did the coyotes precede the wolves here (perhaps in a prior ice age)? [/QUOTE] No, as far as I know the genus _Canis_ originated in North America much earlier, in the Late Miocene. (The Family Canidae is of North American origin.) Coyotes are an indigenous North American lineage, and never occurred in the Old World. Gray Wolves _Canis lupus_ may have originated in Eurasia from an ancestor that originally came from North America, and then migrated back. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2008, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal/456094/29 "2008-07-12T03:54:09Z")
[QUOTE=Chronos] Really? I had understood that the North American canines all came over the Bering land bridge, same as humans, and at about the same time. Were there once coyotes in Eurasia that since died out there, or did coyotes diverge from grey wolves after the wolves came over here, or did the coyotes precede the wolves here (perhaps in a prior ice age)? [/QUOTE] The genus apparently originated in North America. One or more early member/s crossed into Eurasia and gave rise to the Grey Wolf, the various Jackals, etc.. The Coyote, Dire Wolf and ( controversially ) perhaps the Eastern and/or Red Wolf originated in situ in North America. The Eurasian Grey Wolf ( ancestor of the Domestic Dog ) then later crossed back into North America. I believe that’s the current thinking anyway. The Coyote and Grey Wolf have common ancestors, but diverged a long time ago and as species trace their immediate origins to different continents. ETA: Ah, too slow again. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2008, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal/456094/30 "2008-07-12T04:50:06Z")
Good heavens, until this moment, I believed that a Dire Wolf was a fantasy creature used in my Neverwinter Nights game. I had no idea there was a real one at one time. Ignorance fought. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2008, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal/456094/31 "2008-07-12T05:18:12Z")
[QUOTE=Oy!] Good heavens, until this moment, I believed that a Dire Wolf was a fantasy creature used in my Neverwinter Nights game. I had no idea there was a real one at one time. Ignorance fought. Thank you. [/QUOTE] … six hundred pounds of sin … actually, Robert Hunter wasn’t aware that they were only slightly larger than a modern gray wolf, and thought they were enormous beasts when he wrote the song. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2008, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal/456094/32 "2008-07-12T05:45:30Z")
Artitistic liscense… ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2008, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal/456094/33 "2008-07-12T06:25:42Z")
Thank you for posting this thread and to the posters that responded. I saw two strange looking foxes the other day at work and could not figure out why they were yellowish and had odd ears. I know know I was looking at two young gangly coyotes. It never crossed my mine but it should have. I normally only see red foxes and these foxes looked very odd. Not surprising as that were almost definitely coyote pups. Jim ETA: This is what I basically saw in doing a google image search. [http://www.nps.gov/cebr/naturescience/images/coyote\_puppy\_sc74.jpg](http://www.nps.gov/cebr/naturescience/images/coyote_puppy_sc74.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2008, 7:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal/456094/34 "2008-07-12T07:14:23Z")
Huh, you learn something new every day. And some days, apparently, you learn the same thing twice. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-this-animal/456094.md?page=1)