Mark Twain was so struck when he first saw that “long, slim, sick and sorry-looking skeleton, with a gray wolfskin stretched over it” that he called it “a living, breathing allegory of Want.” And Twain’s description itself was so vivid, it inspired the animator Chuck Jones to create that perennial failure known to cartoon-loving children everywhere, Wile E. Coyote of Road Runner-hating fame….

There are even hints that the traveling coyotes may have been up to more than just dawdling with a wolf or two. Dr. Kays’s team also found one coyote carrying something similar to domestic dog DNA, suggesting that the question of what exactly an Eastern coyote is may become even more complicated as scientists learn more.

One major complication is that all the species in the genus Canis, to which the coyote belongs, can successfully interbreed. In other words, coyotes (or Canis latrans, meaning “barking dog”) and domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) and every kind of wolf, from the red wolf to the Eastern wolf to the gray wolf (Canis lupus), can mate and produce perfectly healthy pups. No wonder, then, that interactions among these species have led to a genetic mess that researchers sometimes refer to as “Canis soupus.”

– Carol Kaesuk Yoon, N.Y. Times.

Smart money says this is the most interesting thing you’ll read today, all about the mysterious and ominous coyote. First of all, I had no idea that Mark Twain inspired the creation of Wile E. Coyote. Who knew?

Plus, it turns out the coyotes we have in these parts are actually part-wolf and part-dog, whereas the coyotes like the one that jumped out in front of my buddy’s car in Utah are pure coyote.

The big revelation here, to me at least, is that all members of the genus Canis can successfully breed.

Now I have a new life goal: I must somehow mate a wolf and a dachshund. Because what the hell would that look like? Hey! It’s a wiener wolf!