Tag: coywolves

Quote of the Day, Dear GOD But I Still Hate Bamboo edition.

Haven’t changed that opinion since 2009, either.  Anyway, I came across a slightly despairing passage from 2011: in case you weren’t aware, golden bamboo is an invasive species in Maryland, because some idiots thought that it’d look awesome here right next to the native bamboo (which has the elementary politeness to regulate itself). The problem?

There are no known biological controls for bamboo, unless you count the Giant panda. Certain spider mites feed on bamboo leaves but they do not cause extensive damage. Pandas on the other hand, actively eat the leaves and tender shoots of bamboo, and in fact bamboo makes up 95% of their diet. Since adult pandas eat about 20-30 pounds of bamboo per day, a pair would make short work of an infested area. Pandas are however, notoriously scarce, with only about 1,000 found in the wilds of central China and another 200 or so in zoos throughout the world. So don’t look for anyone offering their services.

On the bright side, there may be a solution here: genetic engineering. If we could get our hands on enough panda DNA, we could bootleg the species and release it into the wild (after tweaking its collective suicide wish, slightly). Of course, once they eat all the bamboo they’re kind of stuck, but I figure that if we also make them tasty that would be a self-correcting problem. Certainly the coywolves wouldn’t object…

Wow. I have definite opinions about animals, huh?

Coyote-Wolf Hybrids in DC’s Rock Creek Park.

I warned DC liberals; I absolutely warned them. Back in 2013, I asked them, “Simple question, DC folks: do you WANT wolves in Rock Creek Park? Right THERE?”  Well, guess what: what DC folks want is now irrelevant.  The wolves are in the process of arriving.  Whether DC likes it or not:

Just a few hundred years ago, coyotes stuck to the plains between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River. As humans killed off wolves, coyotes took over their territory. The coyotes that pressed north into Canada came across the remnants of wolf populations and interbred, creating a hybrid creature that’s small enough to live undetected among humans, but large enough to feast on fawns (though perhaps not full-sized deer).

In other words, they are perfectly adapted to the I-95 corridor, [genetic researcher Javier] Monzon says.

“The more deer there are around, the more wolf-like the coywolves tend to be,” he says.

Which means, essentially, that the coywolf menace will merely become more and more… erm, wolfy. Soon there will be the ultimate wolf-like predator in Rock Creek Park! SUPER-WOLVES, with a coyote’s cunning!

Enjoy! Continue reading Coyote-Wolf Hybrids in DC’s Rock Creek Park.