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They observed that the Great Lakes wolves exhibited a rather wide range of variation in the extent of their minor coyote component. Some individuals were nearly 100% wolf, while others were nearly 50% coyote. The red wolf seems to be predominantly coyote, while coyotes themselves have wolf and dog ancestry. Time scales of admixture were inferred to be in the range of centuries to nearly 1,000 years, with the assumption that there were earlier admixture events.
This is perhaps problematic. The ESA protects species, so what gets labeled a species is a matter of great contention. The red wolf may be a stabilized hybrid of relatively recent vintage (or perhaps more accurately a back-cross to coyotes from a wolf-coyote hybrid population?). The authors also note that that ironically the red wolf as we know it, on the brink of extinction but brought back through proactive captive breeding, may have been selected for the more wolf-like individuals within the population. So the preconception of the researchers may have changed the nature of the species on a genetic and phenotypic level.
The paper referenced is behind a paywall...
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