They seem slender although they are quite leggy for a coyote perhaps? I need opinions please? Central Mn, area.

Hummmmm……
I’m leaning towards this springs wolf pups. Like you say, leggy and a healthy chest cavity. The boy in the back taking a leak has a small wolfish shaped head I think, but hard to see, as soon as they move it’s not quite as sharp.
Central Mn, I’m guessing you’ve got a healthy wolf population?

We really don’t have a healthy population of wolf. However, 1/2 hour north of here near the military base, camp Ripley, they have a couple of packs. As of now in my area, they’re not really common, but not out of the question either.

I’m no expert but I would lean towards wolf.

Wolves...tail posture is also a good indicator

I dont know much about wolves but coyote tails usually do hang straight down when walking around

Another photo from this morning on a different camera

Wolves

Wolves, they are wide spread in Mn. You are close to the packs in Ripley. That's a simple days walk to where you are at.

They look like they have a wolf sire and coyote mother. Probably a young male wolf couldn't find a wolf mate when he was driven out of his pack and impregnated a female coyote. That happens fairly frequently when wolves are expanding into new territory heavily occupied by coyotes. There's probably no such thing as an entirely pure wolf in the Eastern US, or coyote for that matter. They all probably contain coyote, wolf and domestic dog genetics.

The wolves in Minnesota appear to be all of mixed genetics.

"Red wolves" are mostly coyote genetics.

The color black in wolves, which is fairly common in some areas, was found to have been introduced by domestic digs.

Keith

That daylight picture is a wolf

About half of the 400 some "wolves" tested in this Minnesota study had significant amounts of coyote DNA. Canis latrans shortened to C. Latrans are coyotes.



https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/177023/Rick_umn_0130M_16739.pdf?sequence=1

The reason many wolf like animals in Minnesota are hard to tell from between wolves or coyotes is that they are mixes of both.

I don't think hybrid animals should be given any protection more than the lesser protected animal in their genetic profile.

Keith

I have never seen a coyote saunter up and down like those did. A coyotes gait is more smooth in comparison, like they are guilty of something all the time and are trying to slither away unnoticed.

All 427 coyotes tested in this Ohio study were found to be hybrids of coyotes, wolves and domestic dogs.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3899836/

It is suspected that every coyote in Ohio is a hybrid animal.

It mentions that the Great Lakes "wolves" are hybrids with coyotes and dogs.

"Modern populations of North American wolf-like canids are known to be admixed in some areas. Coyote-derived DNA was first found in wolf populations of the Great Lakes region in the early 1990s (Lehman et al. 1991). A growing body of evidence indicates that the introgressive hybridization among North American Canis is very complex, with genetic exchange occurring in varying degrees among western gray wolves (Canis lupus), eastern wolves (also known as Great Lakes wolves, C. lupus lycaon, or C. lycaon), Mexican wolves (C. lupus baileyi), red wolves (C. rufus), coyotes (C. latrans), and domestic dogs (C. familiaris) (Kyle et al. 2006 and references therein; Hailer & Leonard 2008; Kyle et al. 2008; Leonard & Wayne 2008; Koblmüller et al. 2009; Wheeldon & White 2009; Wilson et al. 2009; Bohling & Waits 2011; vonHoldt et al. 2011). Although admixture is widely accepted, researchers differ in the interpretations of molecular data and their implications for taxonomic recognition and conservation. Most of the research emphasis has been placed on the wolf side of the admixture story because of ongoing debate regarding the validity of the Great Lakes wolf and red wolf recovery programs, while less attention has been given to the causes and consequences of admixture in eastern coyotes (but see Kays et al. 2010a; vonHoldt et al. 2011). Hybridization with wolves is thought to have aided coyotes in their colonization of eastern forests by allowing them to rapidly evolve larger body size, including wider skulls, which made them more effective deer hunters (Kays et al. 2010a). Hence, we hypothesized that individuals living in areas of high deer density are genetically more wolf-like than those living in areas of lower deer density."

Keith

Interesting .

on the photo s Wolf

I for one don’t believe the hybrid theory. Out east, you get big coyotes, but call them part wolf is stretching it. Pull the DNA from a chocolate lab and see what you find. It depends on which “experts” you believe. The anti trapping experts say “heck yea they’re breeding, they’ve seen it………in captivity. But a real biologists will tell you what they think of studies in zoos or confinement…….they’ll bang anything and everything. Round here, a coyote try sleeping with a wolf, it’s a death sentence.
The antis have used it to try and stop coyote trapping up here before, their evidence doesn’t hold water and it doesn’t make it very far in regards to regulation changes.

I think I agree with you Shakey. You have a coyote caught here and a wolf comes through there usually isn't much left of the coyote.

I found another photo from different camera that was taken just before the original video I posted. Its pretty clear that those are no coyotes. Its something I'm not ready to accept if they plan on hanging around.

My point is that being both coyote and wollf, they should always be legal to take. There's no good reason to protect animals with mixed genetics. They should be legally fine to trap.

Keith

What if it's a male wolf and female coyote?