Question: I have heard that the gray wolf that recently wandered into California has been hanging out with coyotes. I have also heard that wolves sometimes breed with coyotes and produce offspring that is half wolf and half coyote. Would such an offspring be protected under the endangered status of the wolf or open to hunting like a coyote? Either way, how would someone tell if the animal was 100 percent coyote or a hybrid? Thanks for any insight you can provide.

Answer: We have been getting a number of inquiries regarding wolf-coyote hybrids after we observed and photographed the wolf known as OR7 in the company of coyotes.

According to Department of Fish and Game (DFG) Northern Region Wildlife Program Manager Karen Kovacs, genetic investigations have confirmed that wolves and coyotes have interbred elsewhere. In the Northeast, tests have confirmed that red wolves and coyotes have interbred, and coyotes and Mexican wolves have interbred in the Southwest. However, there is no evidence to date that gray wolves reintroduced to the Rocky Mountain region have hybridized.

Also, wolves are known to kill and consume coyotes and several studies show that coyote populations decrease when wolves become reestablished in the same habitat. Remember, OR7 was documented near coyotes for only a short time. It would be speculation to suggest that OR7 was "hanging out" with them.

Coyotes in the Northeast that have wolf DNA are larger than average coyotes but clearly not as big as wolves. Coyotes on average weigh about 15-30 lbs; wolves 70-100 lbs. Coyotes are about 1.5 feet tall; wolves about 2.5 feet tall. Kovacs believes that a hunter is more likely to mistake a dog or wolf-dog hybrid for a wolf than confuse a wolf-coyote hybrid with a wolf.

Although gray wolves are listed under the federal Endangered Species Act, a wolf-coyote hybrid produced by one of those wolves would not be protected under that law, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Neither is currently listed under California's endangered species act.

If coyote hunting in California, don't shoot if you are in doubt of your target. If the animal doesn't look 100 percent coyote, its more likely to be a domestic dog than a wolf or coyote-wolf hybrid. See our webpage for differences between coyotes and wolves. The size difference is pretty dramatic.

For all of the latest information on this lone gray wolf, please visit our website at www.dfg.ca.gov/wildlife/nongame/wolf/.