Eastern Coyotes

Eastern coyotes are larger than their Western counterparts -- no one is quite sure why. One idea is that the Eastern coyote has cross-bred with wolves and farm dogs, but this is really unproven. What is clear, is that the so-called "Red Wolf" that once existed in the Eastern U.S. is really nothing more than a hybrid wolf-coyote cross. This has been proven with DNA tests of old "Red Wolf" skins kept at the Smithsonian, and also with DNA tests of the wild Red Wolves loose in the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in northeastern North Carolina.

The coyote, pictured above, was shot in the Adirondack's of New York and weighed 59 pounds -- a very, very large coyote. Most adult Eastern Coyotes weigh in at around 40 pounds.