Press

ALBANY, NY (September 23, 2009) – Two New York State Museum scientists have co-authored a new study published today in a major scientific journal that explains how coyotes evolved to be larger and stronger over the past 90 years, dramatically expanding their geographic range and becoming the top predator in the Northeast.

Dr. Roland Kays, the museum’s curator of mammals, and Dr. Jeremy Kirchman, curator of birds, co-authored an article on their research that was published in Biology Letters, a peer-reviewed journal that publishes high-quality biology research . The other author was Abigail Curtis, who did this work as a SUNY Albany undergraduate, but is now a graduate student at the University of California in Los Angeles.

The article notes that the North American coyote evolved as a hunter of small prey in the Great Plains, but rapidly colonized all of eastern North America over the last half-century. Previous research suggested that the spread of agriculture and the extinction of wolves may have helped coyote expansion, but genetic interchange with remnant wolf populations had never been thoroughly addressed.

This new study of eastern coyote genetics and skull morphology shows that remnant wolf populations in Canada hybridized with coyotes expanding north of the Great Lakes, thereby contributing to the evolution of coyotes from mousers of western grasslands to deer hunters of eastern forests. The resulting coy-wolf hybrids are larger, with wider skulls that are better adapted for hunting deer. Historical records of the coyote population expansion indicated that movement along the northern route was five times faster than along the route south of the Great Lakes. Populations of pure western coyote and coy-wolf hybrids are presently coming into contact in areas of western New York and Pennsylvania.

The scientists based their study on DNA sequence data from 696 eastern coyotes and measurements of 196 skulls from State Museum specimens. They also tested three very large animals that looked more like large, full-blooded grey wolves. Two of the animals had the western grey wolf genetic signature and one had a Great Lakes wolf signature, suggesting that a few full-sized wolves have recently migrated into New York and Vermont, but are not breeding here. Only one of the 696 coyote samples was closely related to domestic dogs, showing that coyotes are not frequently breeding with domestic dogs in the region and the popular moniker ‘coydog’ is technically inaccurate.

In the past, Kays has studied coyote diet and distribution in Albany’s Pine Bush and the Adirondacks. The research indicated that deer accounted for approximately one-third of the coyote’s diet and that they made extensive use of forested areas.

An Albany resident, Kays received his undergraduate degree in biology at Cornell University before earning his doctorate in zoology at the University of Tennessee.

Kirchman, also of Albany, uses DNA sequencing technology to examine genetic differences among populations and species. Most of his work has focused on populations of birds that are isolated on islands, and recently he has focused on habitat islands on mountain tops, including the Catskills and Adirondacks.

He has an undergraduate degree in biology from Illinois Wesleyan University, a master’s degree from Louisiana State University, and a doctorate degree in zoology from the University of Florida.

The New York State Museum is a program of the New York State Education Department’s Office of Cultural Education. Started in 1836, the Museum has the longest continuously operating state natural history research and collection survey in the United States. Located on Madison Avenue in Albany, it is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. except on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Admission is free. Further information about programs and events can be obtained by calling (518) 474-5877 or visiting the museum website at www.nysm.nysed.gov.

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