Every day we turn on the news, there is always a story on the newest scientific study and how it affects our lives. Today the story is a large amount of arsenic in our apple juice, but a few months ago those same studies were assuring us there was not enough measurable arsenic to make a difference. Sensational journalistic articles are around us every day, but how much can we believe? “They say…” is on every tongue, but who are “they”? Just what are these studies about? Journalists are writers of online blogs, newspaper or magazine articles, and even the news we listen to. Journalists need consumers to believe what they say and will tweak the “studies” to get those consumers to pay attention and money. What the journalists write is not necessarily wrong, but the points made in their writings are often glamorized in an attempt to make an article easier to understand.
A scientific study was recently completed in Northern Virginia on coyotes and wolves, and there are a few articles written by journalists to get our attention to this topic. One particular article actually gave credit directly to the original researchers, which made it much easier to locate the original scientific journal which was being referred to. The supporting website is the Discovery Channel which hosts such science and entertainment television shows as “Mythbusters” and “Senior vs. Junior: American Chopper”. In the section dedicated to “news”, Discovery decided to post this article – for Halloween.
The first tagline of the article actually mentions werewolves in order to get the reader’s attention, but the author is really referring to a study on the cross-breeding of coyotes and wolves. Hyperlinks throughout the article refer to a “big, carnivorous coywolf” (Viegas, 2011), which also are intended solely to pique curiosity with the hint of fear. Large, colorful photographs of both wolf pups playing and a coyote sniffing the ground are displayed but it leads the reader to investigate if these are photos of the new crossbred animal the article refers to. The goal of the author to may be to educate the reader, but the article has successfully been sensationalized to illicit interest.
Coyote-wolf hybrids are the focus of the scientific study, and are the ultimate focus of the article in Discovery News – which the author makes a very strained attempt to connect the concept to that of a shape-shifting and fictitious werewolf (part human, part wolf). It is stated “the scientists collected coyote scat (aka poop)” (Viegas, 2011) which shows a very direct effort by the author to lighten the tone of her article and to make it easier for the reader to understand. Her efforts to simplify the understanding are lost, however, when the author begins to discuss different routes the self-proclaimed “poop trail” were found on. Is the reader to assume these trails are migratory patterns of the wolves or trails the scientists took in their research? Is this possible migration seasonal or generational? The answer is very muddled and glazed over, and this geographical point very well could be one of great focus of the study.
Humans are blatantly blamed for dwindling coyote population over the past 150 years. The author creates a mental image of the coyotes being pushed out of their homes and left in search of a home. These coyotes then met up with Great Lakes Wolves and interbred due to trouble in finding mates of their own species (Viegas, 2011). There is little mention of what the new hybrid species looks like, but the author actually quotes the researcher in saying “this does not mean that we have massive, wolf-like coyotes”. Ironically, this is exactly the opposite of what the hyperlinks within the article allude to in the previous section of the same article (“big, carnivorous coywolf”) (Viegas, 2011). Instead, the researcher Christine Bozarth continues to be quoted stating “the different shaped jaws [in the new species] may allow them to fill different ecological niches” based on the changing prey.
Coyote populations are expanding due to this hybridization, but now the author mentions wolves have become endangered since this has begun and the continued hybridization may just pose a threat to the actual population of “the true North American wolf” (Viegas, 2011). Very little mention of the wolf in this article, or the adaptability of this new hybrid, leaves the reader wondering if humans should intercede to help out with a problem we must have created in the coyotes’ population. Looking at the original scientific journal gives more clarification to the wolves and coyotes and their population fluctuations over the past two decades. “Species that can best take advantages of habitats modified by humans will proliferate” (Bozarth, 2011) is a fantastic summary given by the scientist.
History of the entire canid genus (including wolves and coyotes) since the 17th century is mentioned as contracting and expanding, with the coyotes actually thriving in numbers. Gray wolves, however, have dropped in population from approximately 2 million in 1929 to approximately 70,000 individuals in 2003 (Bozarth, 2011).
The scientific journal goes in to great detail explaining the region that was studied in Northern Virginia. Samples were obtained from Prince William Forest Park and Marine Corps Base Quantico. Despite the extremely high human population and modernization of this area suburban to Washington, D.C., these are notably large wildlife preservations contiguously representing an area of approximately 320 squared kilometers (Bozarth, 2011). Coyotes were first observed at Marine Corps Base Quantico in 1997, and have notably thrived in this region. Scat (referred to as “poop” in the journalistic article) was collected along roads and trails in both locations as opportunistically as possible. The scientific article notes random sampling of scat in vegetation is difficult for humans to detect, but carnivores tend to deposit scats along roadways (Bozarth, 2011). Genetic samples were also obtained from seven coyotes trapped by hunters. The genetic material was collected over a period between 2002 and 2008 and placed into plastic bags before freezing immediately.
Using polymerase chain reaction amplification, this DNA was then compared with registered species and haplotypes nationwide using the database known as GenBank. This then gives a sort of genetic and geographic map telling the history of migration of the species. The scientific team was able to differentiate scat of the coyotes from scat of the gray and red foxes, but did not discover scat from the domestic dog in their samplings. Comparing six regions (Texas, Nebraska, South Carolina, Ohio, western Pennsylvania/western New York, and the Northeast), DNA haplotype frequency were compared and considered as potential sources of the colonization of northern Virginia coyotes. The scientific study found seven haplotypes that were previously recovered in other Canis species and published in the GenBank. Of the 156 published Canis species control region sequences, 15 were identical to what was found in northern Virginia (Bozarth, 2011). Some haplotypes detected in northern Virginia were only detected in one other locality, but others were detected from diverse geographical localities. What this tells us is hybridization has been occurring in the coyote species for many generations as they migrate across the country.
Interestingly, though, was one haplotype in the coyotes that is identical to two reported Great Lakes Wolves sequences. This haplotype was found in historic specimens about 100 years old from Ontario, Michigan, and Wisconsin (Bozarth, 2011). These historic samplings were collected before the coyotes arrived to the region and are therefore not products of recent mixtures. This Great Lakes Wolf haplotype is common in coyotes throughout the northeastern United States and southeastern Quebec. It is also noted in this scientific study that the coyotes with this genetic haplotype also show a craniodental (skull and jaw) characteristic more similar to wolves than coyotes in 15 out of 48 coyotes sampled previously (Bozarth, 2011).
The differences in the scientific journal article and the journalistic article are staggering and practically humorous. When reading the article in Discovery News, the reader is lead to believe the coyote is a dying breed that is forced to mate with the ever-present wolves to preserve its presence in the world. Discovery News also creates the thought hybridization is so rare and the new “coywolf” is a very new scientific discovery (Viegas, 2011). While this may be true, that fact is hyped up to specifically give the reader something interesting to discuss. The scientific journal article, however, shows evidence cross-breeding has been going on for generations and specifically states the regions where those genetic detectors have originated from. There is recognition given to the newly discovered Great Lakes Wolf-coyote crossbreed that seems to be spreading southward stated in the scientific journal article (Bozarth, 2011).
The point of the scientific journal article was to demonstrate the genetic sampling and mapping can be gathered in a non-invasive way and yet still sheds light on the migratory pasts and hybridization of the breeds. This point was definitely brought to fruition with the confirmed discovery of the Great Lakes Wolf colonization with the red coyote in a very classic “survival of the fittest” scenario. While the journalist pines over humans driving out coyotes, the scientist states coyotes actually thrive in the environments which have urbanized by humans.
“Regardless, it is clear that the coyote has been able to expand dramatically through the ranges of other Canis species despite anthropogenic persecution and probably will continue to dominate the eastern United States as its principal mammalian predator.” (Bozarth, 2011)
Works Cited
Bozarth, C. A. (2011). Coyote colonization of northern Virginia and admixture with Great Lakes wolves. Journal of Mammography, 1070-1080. Viegas, J. (2011, October 25).
Wither the wolf, behold the coywolf. Retrieved from Discovery News: http://news.discovery.com/animals/wolves-disappearing-halloween-111025.html?print=true
I have been teaching school-aged kids at the daycare during summer. I had about 16 of them a day, including Savannah and Tori. I had a really fun time with all the field trips and teaching the children (with a broad age range from 5-12 years old) about science, math, reading, and writing. I won’t lie, it’s been quite a challenge at times! I had two boys with sever ADHD, one with impulse control, and another boy with Tourette’s syndrome. (Some were medicated, others were not.) It has made me decide, however, that no matter what I will never teach kindergarten. Holy cow, those are some wild children!
I have still been going to school, finishing the spring semester on the Dean’s List and taking a class over the summer. This fall I am cutting back to only take two classes, but they are more intense classes. I’m still working 40+ hours a week to make ends meet; doing as best I can at minimum wage. (Daycare workers never make much money.)
Violet just turned three years old, and she is moving in to her Preschool class this Monday. She is as smart as a whip, and just as sassy! She is going to be her mommy’s smart-mouthed payback, I can see it coming. Just two nights ago, I asked her to put something in the trash and she said “I not a maid, mommy.” See? It’s coming. (Don’t worry, I put her in her place!)
Eddie has been helping out with things at home, and working at church quite a bit. Right now, he volunteers to teach the two year old class on Saturday nights AND Sunday afternoons of alternating weeks. He loves it, and I have had to step aside and let him run his show because the kids just adore him!
I know that I have neglected communication with you all, and I apologize. :) I’m going to make a bigger effort to get better, I promise!!
They had a very interesting start to the day! I got my times all screwed up and actually got them up and ready for school a whole hour early! It wasn't until I pulled into the empty parking lot that I figured it out. (Hey, I hadn't slept all night... cut me some slack! haha) The girls took it all in stride. I decided to let Eddie take them to school for their second time that day. :) 
Eddie walked the kids in to their classrooms, a bit before the bell even rang. Savannah already knew her teacher, Mr. Danner, from student council and she said that he "put her to work". :) Tori got a first look at her classroom, put her bookbag up, and then went to the gym where they gather all the kindergarteners by class on the first day and walk to class together. 
Tori was very quick to make friends! (Shocker, right?) Savannah was allowed to sit anywhere she wanted to, and chose a seat right in the front. Three friends she already had quickly found her, including Rylea (a girl I've watched). They had a great first day, and are quickly adjusting. Tori has already had music and computers, and Savannah has had art and music so far. Here's to a good year!! 
