翻好累，一些人名和大學名和機構名就略過了
不過郊狼狼這名字好怪但好好聽XD
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http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/0...yote-wolf.html
New DNA evidence reveals that coyotes have bred with wolves in the the northeastern United States, turning mice-eating coyotes into much larger animals with a hunger for big prey, such as deer.
美國東北部有新的DNA證據證實郊狼和狼出現交配現像。最終產下不再吃老鼠，而是改吃更大的獵物，如鹿，的大型狩獵動物。
The resulting "coywolves" may, however, benefit ecosystems, since they appear to be filling niches once occupied by wolves that were eradicated by humans.
考慮到牠們將可能填補因被人類所撲滅的狼的生態地位，交配所產下的 coywolves（郊狼狼？XD），被認為對生態有益。
"We are finding repeatedly that hybridization is more common than we used to think," lead author Roland Kays told Discovery News.
「證據指出牠們兩者的雜交現像比我們想像中更為普遍。」
"This is an evolutionary mechanism to generate new variation that can work faster than genetic mutation," added Kays, curator of mammals at the New York State Museum.
「這是一種能比基因突變更快產生出變異的進化機制。」
Kays and colleagues Abigail Curtis and Jeremy Kirchman took mitochondrial DNA samples from 686 eastern coyotes housed in museums, or obtained by donations from hunters, fur trappers and various government agencies. The scientists also measured 196 coyote skulls.
學者們從博物館、獵人所捐贈、毛皮陷阱設置者和不同政府機構中獲得686隻東部郊狼，並在其中得到線粒體DNA樣本，同時量度了196隻郊狼的頭骨。
The study, outlined in the latest Royal Society Biology Letters, reveals that some of the largest specimens were indeed coyote and wolf hybrids.
研究顯示出當中一些較大的實驗動物為郊狼和狼的混種。
Given where these animals came from and the degree of documented genetic diversity, the researchers can tell that a few coyote females mated with male wolves north of the Great Lakes.
根據這些動物的來源地和對比已被紀錄的基因多樣性程度，學者們得出少數雌性郊狼和雄性狼在 Great Lakes北部有交配過的結論。
Subsequent coywolf population expanded into western New York and western Pennsylvania, which also have populations of pure coyotes.
隨後 coywolf向紐約西部和西賓夕凡尼亞州這些當中也有純種郊狼的區域擴展。
Coywolves aren't too hard to pick out from pure coyotes.
Coywolf不難從純種郊狼當中被分辨出。
"They are larger, both in terms of body size and skull dimension," Kays explained. "Their skulls are especially wide compared with their length."
「他們無論是體形和頭骨都比較大，牠們的頭骨與長度相比更是比較寬。」
"Male coywolves are larger than females, while coyotes are not," he added. "Coywolves also tend to be more variable in terms of color, with red, dark and light morphs."
「雄性 coywolf比雌性的大，但郊狼則相反。 Coywolf在毛色上也比較多樣化，有較紅的，較暗的和較淺色的。」
He said coywolves tend to hunt larger prey than coyotes do, scavenging or actively seeking deer, for example, which is possible given the coywolves' larger size.
可能是由於Coywolf的體型較大的關係，Coywolf傾向狩獵更大的獵物，而郊狼的則較小。Coywolf更較為主動地尋找如鹿的大型獵物或屍體。
Coywolves even sound different.
Coywolf所發出的聲音也有不同。
"Their vocalizations are deeper than western coyotes," he said. "They readily make use of forest habitat, while western coyotes tend to avoid it and prefer open areas."
「他們的聲音比西部郊狼的更為低沉。Coywolf很快地就適應了森林作為棲所，而西部郊狼傾向避開森林而選擇較為開放的區域。」
While hybridization happens and "is a natural process," according to Kays, it's also not mating per usual. Wolves often "persecute coyotes rather than breed with them," he said, so it's still rare for these distinct, yet related, species to make love and not war.
儘管雜交是經常發生和一種自然行為，但在狼群當中是很罕見的。「狼群較常傷害郊狼而非與之交配。」但這兩種有關連的物種能夠交配而不傷害對方的情況是很少見的。
The same holds true for dogs and coyotes.
這種情況在狗和郊狼中也是一樣。
"Generally coyotes kill dogs; dogs avoid coyotes," he said, but interbreeding does sometimes occur, although he and his team found very little DNA evidence for it in their sizable sample from the Northeast. He believes "coy-dogs" are more common in the Southeast.
「普遍來說，郊狼會殺狗，狗會避開郊狼，」但有些時候還是會有種內交配的情況出現，但學者們只能從少量來自東北部的DNA證據中得到這結論，但他相信郊狼-狗在東南部會比較常見。
Earlier this year, University of Calgary professor and wolf expert Marco Musiani determined that human breeding of dogs led to a dominant gene for dark fur to be spread, through interbreeding, to wolves. Black fur is now commonplace in wolf packs.
早年，有專家指出人類繁殖狗隻的活動中導致一種黑色毛髮的顯性基因在種內交配中被大量播至狼群中，致使狼群中很常出現黑色毛髮。
Climate change has diminished snow in northern environments. White wolves used to benefit when snow was more plentiful, but now black fur provides them with greater stealth when the wolves hunt in snowless places.
氣候改變導致北部降雪減少。白狼通常在大雪之下都能得到較好的狩獵優勢，但黑色毛髮的出現，令到狼群們在無雪的地方都能夠隱密地狩獵。
Musiani said: "It is somewhat ironic that a trait that was created by humans may now prove to be beneficial for wolves as they deal with human-caused changes to their habitat."
「對於狼群生存在被人類所改變的棲境中，人類創造出的特徵竟然諷刺地被認為對狼群有益。」
Kays said a proposal to re-introduce wolves into the Adirondacks "has basically been put on hold while we figure out the eastern wolf taxonomy."
一些狼隻重置的計劃因對東部的狼的重新分類考量而被擱置。
Although the coywolf is moving into the wolf's former ecological niche, he said that "wolves are much larger," so they are still the optimal keystone predator for former wolf-dominated regions.
雖然 coywolf開始填補狼群在生態中的地位，但因狼體型依然較大，所以在前狼群所支配的地方，狼群仍然是最理想的重點捕食者。
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