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I'm trying to read about the relationships between canid species in North America and I've completely lost the plot.
So Wikipedia cites this study as evidence that red wolves are distinct from coyotes, which basically...examined their external morphological characteristics? and determined that...red wolves are more similar to red wolves than coyotes and their hybrids and they have distinct morphological traits? Is it me or is that circular?
Meanwhile the coyote page cites this study which seems far more rigorous in that it actually analyzed the animals' genetics, and this found that red wolves and coyotes form a clade separate from gray wolves, and that all the wolves, coyotes included, are monophyletic. It also found that all North American wolves contain coyote DNA, and that red wolves are around 60% coyote, whereas Eastern timber wolves and Great Lakes wolves are around 40% and 25% coyote respectively (though they are considered to be in the gray wolf clade). See also this study, which largely agrees with the idea that red wolves and coyotes are closely related and that there is a ton of hybridization, meaning essentially all North American wolves and all coyotes have some of the other's DNA. A quote from the second study linked:
An exhaustive search of wolf genomes from the Great Lakes region including Algonquin Provincial Park, where pure eastern wolves are thought to exist, and from red wolves from the captive breeding colony reveals little unique ancestry and instead demonstrates a distinct geographic pattern of admixture between gray wolves and coyotes. We argue strongly for a less typologically oriented implementation of the ESA that allows interim protection of hybrids while encouraging the restoration of historic patterns of variation through habitat protection.
This earlier study treats Eastern Wolves as conspecific with Red Wolves and identifies "Coywolves" as a genetically distinct population with wolf and coyote ancestry. It also notes that North American canids "do not conform to the species concept" because they are not reproductively isolated from each other. Here's a quote:
Coyote/Wolf hybrids are likely harboring Wolf genes that would otherwise be lost due to genetic drift in a small isolated population ... and hybridization is moving towards a Canis that is better adapted to anthropogenically modified landscapes.
This is my first time diving into actual studies about this subject, and I'm just kinda stunned because the evidence appears to very clearly show that wolves and coyotes are basically the same thing existing on a spectrum of phenotypes.
This is just utterly at odds with the policies surrounding the species, where wolves are treated as this noble, essential keystone species firmly protected by law whereas Coyotes are vermin to be slaughtered by the thousands.
People are allowed to kill Coyotes with reckless abandon in the same territories where Red Wolves dwelt. This means that people are almost certainly slaughtering Red Wolves or at least slaughtering what remains of their DNA, because no one knows how or to what extent the two are different.
The second study I linked discusses how the division of the species has implications for the animals being covered under the Endangered Species Act or not. Basically, we had to separate the Eastern Wolf for Gray Wolves to retain protections, because if they were the same species, that would be considered a valid reason to kill 'em all. And obviously, the Red Wolves would not be protected if they were considered the same species as coyotes.
It's almost like the most versatile and adaptable of the wolf phenotypes was offered as a sacrifice to sate the bloodthirst of the pro-wolf-killing faction, Coyotes separated from the rest so the other wolves could be protected and thus live.
But coyotes contain a ton of genetic diversity that could help the other wolves survive. One of the studies above mentions that the 14 founding red wolves of the current population have very low inbreeding coefficients despite being the last of a dying breed. It's because the coyotes have served as a reservoir of diversity.
The divides are a political fiction, they're a complicated family of species that together contain the diversity that holds the key to survival.
