Coydog

A coydog is a canid hybrid resulting from a mating between a male coyote and a female dog. Hybrids of both sexes are fertile and can be successfully bred through four generations.^[1] Similarly, a dogote is a hybrid with a dog father and a coyote mother.

Such matings occurred long before the

Coydogs were deliberately bred in Pre-Columbian Mexico, where coyotes were held in high regard. In the city of Teotihuacan, it was common practice to crossbreed coyotes and Mexican wolves with dogs in order to breed resistant, loyal but temperamental, good guardians.^[3] Northern Indigenous peoples in Canada were mating coyotes and wolves to their sled dogs in order to produce more resilient animals as late as the early 20th century.^[1]

The term is sometimes mistakenly used for coywolves, which are common in northeastern North America, whereas true coydogs are only occasionally found in the wild.^[4]

In captivity,

Some 15% of 10,000 coyotes taken annually in Illinois for their coats during the early 1980s may have been coydogs based on cranial measurements. As the coyote population in Illinois at the time was estimated at 20,000–30,000, this would suggest a population of 3,000–4,500 coydogs in the state.^[8] Of 379 wild canid skulls taken in Ohio from 1982 to 1988, 10 (2.6%) were found to be coydogs. It was noted that "The incidence of coydog hybrids was high only in areas of expanding, widely dispersed coyote populations".^[9] In a study of coyote–dog encounters in the wild, hostile and playful encounters were seen in about equal proportions.^[10]

See also

• Dogs portal
• List of dog breeds
• Canid hybrid
• Coywolf
• Dingo–dog hybrid
• Dogxim
• Jackal–dog hybrid
• Sulimov dog
• Wolfdog

References