Another coyote thread, ID this one

[ArcticFox]

My trailcams regularly pick up coyotes like this one...





...but this one has me stumped. I'm quite sure it is not a domestic dog, too remote. Any ideas? Is it a coyote?

 

[Texas Star]

I suspect that lower one is a coydog, a coyote-dog mix. Look at the shape of the head and the heavier structure over most coyotes. I think it has a lot of German shepherd in it.

The overall image is more wolf-like than a coyote. Frankly, I'd not be surprised if this is part wolf.

These can be very dangerous. One jumped my son a couple of months ago. He thinks it was after a sick horse in his backyard enclosure, in a semi-rural area. It came at him in the darkness, with no warning, from behind a bush. He got his Benchmade knife open and stuck it pretty well in the chest and heaved on the knife to make a long cut.

All the while, he was keeping its teeth from his throat. Had he not been able to open the knife with one hand, this could have ended very badly. As a result, he had scratches all over his expensive leather coat and was covered in blood. Scared his wife pretty badly. The mutt yelped and ran off on being stabbed, and has not been found.

Several big coyotes killed a girl singer in a Canadian park last year. Be careful of them, although they seldom attack adult men. My son thinks he got between the animal and its intended escape route. If one feels trapped, look out!

Thanks for posting these remarkable photos!

T-Star

 

[David LaPell]

The top one is a coyote, the other not only might be a coy-dog, but he or she might be what we have been getting here in upstate NY. There was a study done a while back by a biologist where he proved that coyotes were breeding with what few red wolves we have left, and they are breeding what looks something like you have in that second pic. They are short, stocky, but really fast. I know we have been getting 50 and 60 pound coyotes now instead of 35 or 40 pounders. I talked to a taxidermist last year who had an 80 pound coyote brought in. They aren't wolves, they are flat out coyotes.
You're right about the coyote attacks, there were two last year on little kids in the town of Rye, NY outside of NYC. The way they are spreading, it doesn't amaze me that more people are getting attacked.
If I can find them I will post the pic of a single coyote dragging a 150 pound deer carcass uphill by itself. We had a deer whacked by a car in front of my house back in 09 and I had to put the doe out of its misery, and it was too banged up to really salvage so I hauled it behind the property and put up my trail cam, only a couple coyotes showed up, but one was massive.

 

[Texas Star]

The top one is a coyote, the other not only might be a coy-dog, but he or she might be what we have been getting here in upstate NY. There was a study done a while back by a biologist where he proved that coyotes were breeding with what few red wolves we have left, and they are breeding what looks something like you have in that second pic. They are short, stocky, but really fast. I know we have been getting 50 and 60 pound coyotes now instead of 35 or 40 pounders. I talked to a taxidermist last year who had an 80 pound coyote brought in. They aren't wolves, they are flat out coyotes.
You're right about the coyote attacks, there were two last year on little kids in the town of Rye, NY outside of NYC. The way they are spreading, it doesn't amaze me that more people are getting attacked.
If I can find them I will post the pic of a single coyote dragging a 150 pound deer carcass uphill by itself. We had a deer whacked by a car in front of my house back in 09 and I had to put the doe out of its misery, and it was too banged up to really salvage so I hauled it behind the property and put up my trail cam, only a couple coyotes showed up, but one was massive.

David-

Red Wolf crossed my mind, too, but the true Red Wolf (Canis niger) is supposed to be limited to a remnant population in east Texas and adjacent LA. The poster is in Washington, in the Pacific NW, where the Red Wolf never existed. I think this animal may have elements of the true Timber Wolf. (Canis lupus, if memory serves.)

It wouldn't surprise me if some Timber Wolves lurk up there, maybe drifting down from B.C., Canada. Wild canids probably cross the border all the time.

You may note that Canis niger really means, Black Wolf. I asked the supervisor of mammals at the zoo here about that. He could only guess that the first ones seen by naturalists were of the melanistic color phase, once more common. If there is a Canis rufus, I don't know what it is. But it wouldn't be our Red Wolf.

T-Star

 

[Bob R]

That could very well be a coy-dog, a wolf/domestic canine hybrid or even a wolf/coyote mix. If those pictures were taken in Cowlitz County I wouldn't discount any of those possibilities.

Although slim, it could also be a grey wolf, I don't know if you have a pack over there or not. Of course you could, but it just isn't official yet. I think at the latest count there are supposed to be 4 breeding packs in WA. Three for sure. What is confusing, at least to me is the tip of the tail. Most greys have a black tip and a lot of the domestic and hybrid canines I have seen have a white tip. The one in the pic has both black and white on the tip of the tail.

When it comes to a lot of these critters often the only way you can tell what they are is to get a DNA sample and see what it is.

bob

 

[Gasman1972]

That's a wild dog.

That's what we call anything that can't be identified 100%

Looks like a coyote wolf.

 

[JcMack]

Second shot: The slope of the back reminds me of GS. I live in a town of 85,000 but there are very large forest areas surrounding. I've never seen Coyotes in town until this year. Guys that hunt 40 miles south of here are telling me of Coy sightings. They tell me they're pretty bold.

 

[curtmini14]

bottom pic is also a coyote with a nice pelt looks like a big male.

 

[ArcticFox]

...thanks for your comments. Over time I have picked up enough pictures of the coyotes that I'm just not convinced this one is a coyote. I hadn't heard of a coydog before but I have since googled it and, well, maybe...

 

[Jswiney9]

in virginia, we call both of those coyotes. one just has a nicer pelt than the other.

 

[NFrameFred]

That's a 'yote and his mommy slept aroun' . . . .

 

[roarindan]

it's a "wool if"

 

[BEARMAN]

We had a pack of a least four of those large coy dogs running around here about 15 years ago...Only one made it out alive.
Haven't seen hide nor hair of it since.

Now, we only see the regular variety of the coyote breed.