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Camera Traps Show Coyotes On The Doorstep Of South America

posted by Fnord666 on Friday December 27 2019, @10:37PM   Printer-friendly
from the heading-south-for-the-winter dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Once again, Panama, home of the narrow land bridge that connects North and South America, could play an outsized role in mammal history.

Mammals from both continents crossed the Panamanian Isthmus when it arose 3 to 4 million years ago, an event known as the Great American Biotic Exchange. Camera trap research shows that history may be repeating itself as North American coyotes and South American crab-eating foxes have been detected in eastern Panama. It's the first time these canids, both members of the dog family, have been found in the same landscape.

"We may be seeing the start of the Not-So-Great American Biotic Exchange," says Roland Kays, wildlife biologist at North Carolina State University and corresponding author of a paper about the research in the Journal of Mammalogy.

More information: Allison W Hody et al. Canid collision—expanding populations of coyotes (Canis latrans) and crab-eating foxes (Cerdocyon thous) meet up in Panama, Journal of Mammalogy (2019). DOI: 10.1093/jmammal/gyz158

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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 27 2019, @11:15PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 27 2019, @11:15PM (#936685)

    And still, the coyotes end up with boulders on their heads. Some things never change.

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  • (Score: 1, TouchĂ©) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 28 2019, @01:13AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 28 2019, @01:13AM (#936729)

    meep meep!