Tag Archives: wolves

Contrary to previous thinking, the domestication of dogs likely first occurred in China, south of the Yangtze River 0

When you leave out some important Asian genetic material, you get the wrong answer — said this research team Makes sense to me: Global mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) data indicates that the dog originates from domestication of wolf in Asia South of Yangtze River (ASY), with minor genetic contributions from dog–wolf hybridisation elsewhere. Archaeological data and [...]

Coyotes expanding their range eastward to Virginia mated with Great Lakes wolves along the way — an interesting research article about coyotes and red, gray, and Great Lakes wolves 0

Analyzing DNA from coyote scat Researchers screened 455 coyote scats in northern Virginia for DNA. From their abstract: Coyotes (Canis latrans) have benefitted from anthropogenic changes to North American ecosystems and have experienced a dramatic range expansion since the early 19th century. The region east of the Mississippi River has been colonized via 2 routes [...]

Vanished wolves may have indirectly caused reduced Canadian lynx populations in the United States — two related hypotheses 0

Ecological dominoes? A team of wildlife researchers would like to test two hypotheses regarding the cause of reduced American populations of Canadian lynx by reintroducing gray wolves (Canis lupus) to affected landscapes. In their view, it is mechanistically plausible that the extermination of wolves in the United States allowed coyotes to compete successfully for Lynx [...]

Canadian national park study pins down the light amount of human trail use that scares wolves and elk away 0

The elk preference is interesting The abstract reported that: Our research investigated the relationship between wolf and elk distribution and human activity using fine-scale Global Positioning System (GPS) wildlife telemetry locations and hourly human activity measures on trails and roads in Banff, Kootenay, and Yoho National Parks, Canada. In areas < 50 m from trails [...]