Posted: 1/14/2014 4:26:03 PM EDT
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I came upon these "dogs" when I was hiking in the Smokies. I was able to snap a quick photo then creep away unscathed without them even noticing me (phew). Anyway...I'm not exactly sure what I encountered up in them hills. Wolves, coyotes, American dingos, ferral dogs? They looked like wolves to me, be from what I understand, we don't have wolves in TN.
https://scontent-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/1558418_10151798516636114_1381238865_n.jpg |
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Quoted:
Red wolves don't look like the timber wolves we usually see pictures of. They look quite a bit like coyotes to my eye, but they move very differently. I'm curious to see if anyone has a definitive answer. They don't look like coyotes to me. Exactly, red "wolves" are not all the typical wolf we think of. The red wolves that were in the Smokies were from Eastern NC and were somewhat smallish, not a whole lot bigger than standard coyotes. They brought them here trying to establish a predator at the top of the food chain to keep the deer explosion down, especially in the Cade's Cove area. They failed miserably due in large part to distemper and I believe coyotes already established there from natural migration from outside the park. These look like they could be cross breeds with coyotes and are now a generation or two removed from the red wolf. OP, you need to email this pic to the range at the Smokies and probably to someone at UT, if you could find someone that was part of the red wolf project I bet they would be interested unless they already know about this. |