Meet the Coywolf

Hello there! How's it going, eh? Glad you could swing by for a mug of coffee and a virtual treat. Say...ever heard of a 'coywolf'?

We watched an interesting CBC Special the other night. A new carnivore has slipped unnoticed into cities across the Eastern seaboard from Toronto to Montreal to Boston and even New York. 

A versatile, new top predator that feasts on everything from rabbits to deer to moose. Scientists say it is one of the most adaptable mammals on the planet but what surprises them most is how this remarkable creature manages to live right alongside us but just out of view. We share our parks, our streets even our backyards with these wild animals, that both fascinate and baffle scientists, but few of us have ever seen a coywolf.

Part wolf, part coyote this new hybrid species is the subject of a startlingly beautiful new film called Meet the Coywolf. A documentary that will both shock and amaze you.

Coywolves emerged from a thin strip of land at the southern end of Algonquin Park less than a hundred years ago. Their arrival on the scene marks a rare event, the creation of a brand new hybrid species. A formidable wild animal that has spread across North America at an unprecedented pace, returning a new top predator to territories once roamed by wolves.

Zoologist Roland Kays of the New York State Museum has been tracking these new creatures and describes them as having "a coyote like skull with wolf like teeth".

Geneticist Bradley White from Trent University in Ontario was at the forefront of the discovery of this new species and says: "I am upset that I'm at the end of my career rather than the beginning, because I think this story, the exciting part of this story, is yet to come."

Two years in the making, this visually and information rich nature film uncovers the story of the coywolf in remarkable detail. Using state-of-the-art high definition, infrared cameras that turn pitch dark into daylight, we tag along with scientists as they track one of the world's most intelligent and shape-shifting animals from the pristine wilderness of Algonquin Park, through golf courses, alleyways and backyards in Toronto to the streets of New York city.

Never-seen-before footage of this captivating new hybrid is combined with ground-breaking scientific research as we travel deep inside a world that was once shrouded in mystery – to gain new insight and understanding into a species that is far more elusive, impressive and strikingly beautiful than any of us could ever of imagined.

I found the program fascinating as I had never heard of a coywolf before but my sister Linda sees either coyotes (or possibly coywolves) regularly when she walks her dog. In fact she commented on how brazen they are getting...walking down the middle of her suburban street! Lots of greenspace around for them to hide in.

David Suzuki hosts the program. If you didn't see it but would like to, go here: 

http://www.cbc.ca/natureofthings/episodes/meet-the-coywolf

See ya, eh!

Bob