Return of the dire wolf

[Cloneon]

Until it is demanded by some that it is really sad to keep them penned up. Why recreate an Alpha predator? Of all things? Because it was the easiest to perform because of the condition of the DNA or maybe splashiest headlines? It just seems of all the things to recreate, a dire wolf would be at the bottom of my list.

The interviewed scientist said the DNA was 99% Grey Wolf and the remaining 1% was modified to match the Dire Wolf. She, said the result IS 100% Dire Wolf. BUT, she paused before saying that. Take that for what it's worth. I'm not eliminating biological extinction, but I think a more plausible explanation was weather related with limited migratory relief due to man's dominance of that region.

 

[Bret44]

If these things ever got into the wild they wouldn't last long... All you need to know is their genetic superiors are only still around (at least anywhere even remotely populated) by the grace of preservation programs. Wolves were hunted to near extinction.

Coyotes survive because they aren't a (real) threat to humans or livestock.

They tried like hell to kill all the Coyotes.

The difference between Coyotes and wolves is how they react to killings.

In 1899, Montana paid out on 23,000 plus wolves, and by 1927, only 17.

Yotes, on the other hand, averaged 30,000 paid bounties per year from 1883 to 1920.

From 1883 to 1927, Montana paid out 111,500 bounties on wolves and over 886,000 bounties on coyotes. Yotes adapted because that is what they have always done.

In fact, trying to kill them all out has led to their explosion in population and expansion to 49 states and much of Canada and Central America. All while still killing more than 400,000/year.

 

[KnappShack]

If we're playing God and bringing stuff back to life can we get a fleet of Racquel Welch clones? Please

 

[gocy444]

Yawn. Call me when they bring the T-rex back.

 

[AuH2O]

They tried like hell to kill all the Coyotes.

The difference between Coyotes and wolves is how they react to killings.

In 1899, Montana paid out on 23,000 plus wolves, and by 1927, only 17.

Yotes, on the other hand, averaged 30,000 paid bounties per year from 1883 to 1920.

From 1883 to 1927, Montana paid out 111,500 bounties on wolves and over 886,000 bounties on coyotes. Yotes adapted because that is what they have always done.

In fact, trying to kill them all out has led to their explosion in population and expansion to 49 states and much of Canada and Central America. All while still killing more than 400,000/year.

I've never really understood how coyotes can be SO much more adaptable than Wolves. The last couple winters I've had yote running around my yard smack in the middle of Ames. A couple times in broad daylight. I get it was a full winter coat, but that boy was BIG. Way bigger than the scrubby, mangy looking yotes I used to see growing up in NW Iowa. Hopefully he sticks around to eat the woodchucks and moles.

 

[Bret44]

I've never really understood how coyotes can be SO much more adaptable than Wolves. The last couple winters I've had yote running around my yard smack in the middle of Ames. A couple times in broad daylight. I get it was a full winter coat, but that boy was BIG. Way bigger than the scrubby, mangy looking yotes I used to see growing up in NW Iowa. Hopefully he sticks around to eat the woodchucks and moles.

I think it is because when they 1st diverged from their common ancestor with the wolf, they were the low man on the pole and had to adapt quickly. They can live on everything from insects to carrion. Science points to the fact that when their numbers drop, the females will enter estrus quicker than normal, raising litters of 5 - 8 instead of 3-4. They are true survivors. Really a neat species that gets a lot of flack for serving.

 

[Letterkenny]

I've never really understood how coyotes can be SO much more adaptable than Wolves. The last couple winters I've had yote running around my yard smack in the middle of Ames. A couple times in broad daylight. I get it was a full winter coat, but that boy was BIG. Way bigger than the scrubby, mangy looking yotes I used to see growing up in NW Iowa. Hopefully he sticks around to eat the woodchucks and moles.

Coyotes seem to be insanely adaptable. I read somewhere once that they have bigger litters when their population in an area is decreasing. So if we try to kill them off, they just have more pups. Obviously there would be some limit.

 

[Letterkenny]

The interviewed scientist said the DNA was 99% Grey Wolf and the remaining 1% was modified to match the Dire Wolf. She, said the result IS 100% Dire Wolf. BUT, she paused before saying that. Take that for what it's worth. I'm not eliminating biological extinction, but I think a more plausible explanation was weather related with limited migratory relief due to man's dominance of that region.

I think something like 99% of the genetics are the same between a modern grey wolf and a Dire wolf to begin with. But yeah, I don't think these are 100% genetically to the Dire wolf that existed 10,000 years ago, but it sounds like it's pretty damn close.

 

[Bigman38]

Not something I thought I'd be reading about today, but I was curious too. Being bored at work doesn't hurt either..

There has been a significant effort to eradicate coyotes. Every year, about half a million coyotes are culled in the United States. About 60-80,000 are killed by the federal government. Trust me, there's an effort. Coyotes are favorite targets of "killing contests" in which basically the goal is to bring in the biggest coyote. Sometimes, coyote whacking occurs, a horrible sport in which coyotes are run to exhaustion with snowmobiles and often run over multiple times until they're dead. In my experience, while wolves have recently gotten better public support (people consider them beautiful, powerful, mystical, etc.), coyotes remain hated, considered pests, and this is only occurring more now that coyotes are becoming more urbanized.



As a note to that, most folks who kill coyotes don't realize that killing often makes the situation "worse". Usually, coyote litters have a 25-30% survival rate when under low mortality pressure from humans. But higher human mortality causes an instinctual "population buffer boost" that makes litters increase in size and shoot up to 60-90% survival rate.



Wolves keep coyote populations in check; they're territorial and don't tolerate encroachers. When wolves are around, coyotes generally are suppressed by 20-50%. So when gray wolves were eradicated from the lower 48 by the late 1920s, coyotes literally became top dog. Their numbers boomed, and moved east. As they moved east, they mixed with some remaining wolves whose populations were so low that they considered coyotes possible mates, not enemies. That's why eastern coyotes are often larger than western coyotes, and where the word "coywolf" came from.



Coyotes do numerically take more livestock than wolves, but you have to consider how many more coyotes there are than wolves. In the lower 48, there are about 5,000-6,000 gray + eastern wolves, and <25 wild red wolves in NC. In NC alone, my state, there are an estimated 50,000 coyotes AT LEAST. And that's just 1 state out of the 49 they currently occupy. So per capita, coyotes don't necessarily take more livestock than wolves. Coyotes also rarely take adult cattle, usually if there's more than one and if the cattle is sick. They prefer easier targets like small sheep, lambs, and calves.



Source: I'm a carnivore biologist doing field research on eastern coyotes/coywolves + statistical research on gray wolves. Hope this helps!

 

[ISUTex]

If these things ever got into the wild they wouldn't last long... All you need to know is their genetic superiors are only still around (at least anywhere even remotely populated) by the grace of preservation programs. Wolves were hunted to near extinction.

Coyotes survive because they aren't a (real) threat to humans or livestock.

Yeah, but people shoot coyotes all the time. Just for sport. Coyotes are like rats and cockroaches.

 

[Mr Janny]

They tried like hell to kill all the Coyotes.

The difference between Coyotes and wolves is how they react to killings.

In 1899, Montana paid out on 23,000 plus wolves, and by 1927, only 17.

Yotes, on the other hand, averaged 30,000 paid bounties per year from 1883 to 1920.

From 1883 to 1927, Montana paid out 111,500 bounties on wolves and over 886,000 bounties on coyotes. Yotes adapted because that is what they have always done.

In fact, trying to kill them all out has led to their explosion in population and expansion to 49 states and much of Canada and Central America. All while still killing more than 400,000/year.

Cobra Effect on the Coyotes?

 

[Bret44]

Cobra Effect on the Coyotes?

Kind of, but no one ever bred more coyotes (to my knowledge) to make money.

They just like ******* and living too much.

 

[Bret44]

Dan Flores wrote a book called Coyote America. It goes in deep on this stuff (as well as the Coyotes' ties to native spiritualism).

 

[Mr Janny]

Kind of, but no one ever bred more coyotes (to my knowledge) to make money.

They just like ******* and living too much.

Hear! Hear!

Can't argue with that outlook in the slightest

 

[Letterkenny]

Not something I thought I'd be reading about today, but I was curious too. Being bored at work doesn't hurt either..

They're everywhere. I've seen them in our neighborhood and heard packs howling at night in the middle of Beaverdale.

 

[Dandy]

I think something like 99% of the genetics are the same between a modern grey wolf and a Dire wolf to begin with. But yeah, I don't think these are 100% genetically to the Dire wolf that existed 10,000 years ago, but it sounds like it's pretty damn close.

This same company, Colossal Biosciences, is working on bringing back the "Wooly Mammoth" but in reality it will be a genetically modified Asian Elephant.

 

[AuH2O]

Coyotes seem to be insanely adaptable. I read somewhere once that they have bigger litters when their population in an area is decreasing. So if we try to kill them off, they just have more pups. Obviously there would be some limit.

And on the other side of coyotes, I'd say foxes are pretty adaptable, but they seem to be much less so than coyotes. There are some interesting factors about coyotes that seem to put them in the sweet spot for adapting and thriving everywhere.

Wolves seem to be poorly adaptive. Foxes seem to be moderately adaptive. And yotes seem to be able to survive anywhere and any situation.

 

[HFCS]

They tried like hell to kill all the Coyotes.

The difference between Coyotes and wolves is how they react to killings.

In 1899, Montana paid out on 23,000 plus wolves, and by 1927, only 17.

Yotes, on the other hand, averaged 30,000 paid bounties per year from 1883 to 1920.

From 1883 to 1927, Montana paid out 111,500 bounties on wolves and over 886,000 bounties on coyotes. Yotes adapted because that is what they have always done.

In fact, trying to kill them all out has led to their explosion in population and expansion to 49 states and much of Canada and Central America. All while still killing more than 400,000/year.

No exaggeration I feel like coyotes are just my extra dogs (in addition to the real four) that live outside in Los Angeles. I see about 25 a year in the middle of the city and I see 3-5 every single morning in the huge park near where I live.

The funny thing is every once in a while some park will have a ton of rabbits, then at some point that park has a ton of coyotes, then for a while neither, then a ton of rabbits, and so on. They are very predictable dusk and dawn. You'll never see one middle of the day or middle of night, but if you go for a walk at dusk or dawn you'll see one every time.

 

[Mr Janny]

This same company, Colossal Biosciences, is working on bringing back the "Wooly Mammoth" but in reality it will be a genetically modified Asian Elephant.

I'm here for the Denny's Grand Slam with overeasy Dodo eggs and Mastodon bacon.

 

[coolerifyoudid]

This thread needs a poll:

Which one of our creations kill us first?

AI​

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Genetically re-created species​

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Other​