The coyote has spread to almost the entirety of the North American continent. They are absent from much of the treeless tundra of the Canadian High Arctic, but they are at home in Alaska and Labrador. They range all through the United States and through all of Mexico. They live in every Central American nation and are working their way through Panama.
A recent survey of coyotes and crab-eating foxes in Panama revealed that two species now have an overlapping range. The crab-eating fox (Cerdocyon thous) is widespread in northern South America, but only recently did a few of them wander into Panama. This survey used a combination of camera trap and road-kill data to get an idea of where both canids live in the country.
Deforestation in Panama has opened up new territory for both species, which do much better in human-dominated environments. Coyotes now are at the edge of the great forests of Darien. Beyond those forests lies Colombia– and a whole new continent.
Further, coyotes could possibly enter Colombia through a coastal approach, simply crossing onto the beaches of eastern Panama and walking down the coast.
Also, the researchers are noticing that some coyotes have dog-like features, which suggests they are interbreeding with village dogs. The dogs could confer onto the coyotes some advantageous genes that might make colonization of South America easier.
So my guess is it won’t be long before coyotes make it to Colombia, and when they do, they will be the first wild Canis species to enter that continent since the dire wolf.
No, they aren’t as impressive in their forms as that creature was. But they are impressive in how they have thrived despite all humans have thrown at them.
Of course, when Panama was a province of Colombia, Panama was considered part of South America, and if that were still the case, we could already say they colonized the continent. Many old maps of South America show Panama sticking off upper left of Colombia.
But whatever one thinks, coyotes are very likely to make it into Colombia. They will likely spread from there throughout northern South America. What this means for the native species of South America, we can only conjecture.
But it is going to be an interesting mess.
What dog genes will benefit them?
The paper suggests that dogs will give the coyotes more genes for the expression amylase, which could help them eat more fruit and have more access to that food resource in the Neotropics.
I must be tired. i first read this as “Pomeranian coyotes are interbreeding with dogs and eyeing South America”.
What effect will the have on the maned wolves of South America?
The maned wolves live well to the south of where coyotes would initially colonize, and they may not make it that far south. We honestly don’t know. The real concern is what is going to happen to the Bush dog, which has significant prey overlap with coyotes. They share a range in Panama and only limited research on their ecological interactions.