Research confirms Galveston red wolf DNA link
From GalvNews.com:
Coyotes slipping through Galveston Island’s marshes are carrying more than invasive nutria in their jaws — they are also carrying traces of a wolf that once roamed the Texas coast.
New research shows that coyotes along the Gulf Coast, including those on Galveston Island, retain genetic ancestry from the red wolf, a species long extirpated from the region. Scientists say the persistence of those genes is tied not to genetics alone, but to unusually high survival rates in remote coastal wetlands where human access is limited.
