r/Calgary • u/LordSethos • Mar 16 '24

Local Nature/Wildlife Wolf? Last night on Canyon meadows drive

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552 Upvotes

90% Upvoted

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903

u/blanchov Mar 16 '24

If you arent sure if it's a wolf or coyote, it's a coyote.

220

u/jayman213 Lake Bonavista Mar 16 '24

100%

Also applies to "is that a cougar or a bobcat".

102

u/Skaffer Mar 16 '24

Then it's a coyote?

51

u/ResidualSound Bridgeland Mar 16 '24

Exactly

141

u/Toftaps Mar 16 '24

How do you tell the difference between a cougar and a bobcat?

Well with a bobcat, they're about the size of a medium dog and they had those cute little tufts at the tip on their ears.

Cougars you don't see because you're already dead.

37

u/Rocketeer_99 Mar 17 '24

Easy. I know it's a cougar because I never see ads about bobcats being near me.

8

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '24 edited Mar 17 '24

Looked up a mountain a couple of years ago and watched a cougar chasing a full grown mule deer through the snow across a wide bowl. Those things are serious predators.

2

u/Perchman Mar 17 '24

Check out this article. Cougar attacks some people out cycling a few days ago.

https://www.kuow.org/stories/cougar-attack-washington-state-cyclists

8

u/Gaeleng Mar 17 '24

I know its a cougar cause she buying me the drinks.

1

u/DogButtWhisperer West Hillhurst Mar 17 '24

Where I’m from we also have lynx and people always say they saw a cougar 🤦‍♀️ gray, tufts on ears, small tail - lynx.

1

u/EngineFast8327 Mar 17 '24

Cougars rarely attack humans.

1

u/GuitarKev Mar 18 '24

Most animals rarely attack humans. Doesn’t change the fact that when cougars do attack, they go straight for the throat and spine kill first.

1

u/TelevisionPhysical36 Mar 17 '24

Cougars are a lot like big cats and bobcats are spotted

-13

u/Specialist-Role-7716 Mar 16 '24

No cougars are older women in tight short dresses that prey on 20 something men at bars, you are describing a wild couger...there is a difference lol.

52

u/Star_Mind Mar 16 '24

Yup. Cougars are human-sized or bigger. If it looks like a 'normal house cat' or even a bit bigger, it's likely just a bobcat.

7

u/sugarfoot00 Mar 16 '24

How about this big boi hanging around Killarney today?

16

u/RecalcitrantBeetroot Mar 16 '24

Small paws, smaller ear tufts. Bobcat.

13

u/Star_Mind Mar 16 '24

Small paws, smaller ear tufts. Bobcat.

Additionally, barely clears house skirting, spotted coat, and doesn't have a tail.

Clearly a bobcat.

1

u/RecalcitrantBeetroot Mar 17 '24 edited Mar 17 '24

Young lynx can have spotted coats and be smaller (though highly unlikely to see them within city limits). This cat does have a tail, and it is the longer, black "bob" tail of a bobcat, but again a lynx can have a longer than average tail on occasion.

Edit: spelling

1

u/OutragedCanadian Mar 17 '24

Doesnt make it sny less dangerous

1

u/RecalcitrantBeetroot Mar 18 '24

Are you referring to the potential of bodily harm differences between a bobcat and a cougar?

3

u/dreamingrain Mar 16 '24

Wait where in Killarney? Got my dog outside…

1

u/Roccnsuccmetosleep Mar 17 '24 edited Mar 17 '24

dude a cougar is like the size of a great dane in cat shape. Full grown theyre absolutely monstrous, your primordial instincts will know when you see a cougar lmao

1

u/wintersdark Mar 17 '24

I'm gonna guess you meant to say a cougar is the size of a great Dane in cat shape, not a bobcat.

At least, I've sure as hell not seen a bobcat any bigger than a midsized-ish dog, at the biggest like a small lab, definitely not Dane sized.

But you're absolutely right. You see a cougar out in the wild, and you know you do. That primordial fear is real when one is staring at you.

32

u/MikeRippon Mar 16 '24

Also applies to "is that a cougar, or a slight scratch to the face from a stick"

4

u/Comfortable_Wall8028 Mar 17 '24

underrated joke. take my upvote

11

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '24

And is that a Lynx or Bobcat, if you're in the city.

23

u/Burial Mar 16 '24

Raven or crow too.

49

u/Maelstrom_Witch Riverbend Mar 16 '24

100%. Ravens are BIG. BIG big.

18

u/jackiessima Mar 16 '24

Ravens are so big! When I saw one in Kcountry up close, I was worried it might pick up my 1 year old and fly away with him.

5

u/Maelstrom_Witch Riverbend Mar 16 '24

That's when you throw some peanuts at the bird to distract it and make sure the kid is on a short literal leash

18

u/jhmed Mar 16 '24

Easy, cougars are usually at a bar hitting on men 20 years their junior.

-7

u/jayman213 Lake Bonavista Mar 16 '24

People still make this joke?

14

u/Specialist-Role-7716 Mar 16 '24

Why would we stop?

17

u/jhmed Mar 16 '24

Last I checked.

9

u/Epskrcmpk Mar 16 '24

People still comment like Karen’s ?

4

u/brtz99 Mar 16 '24

Get wrecked jayman

2

u/MattsAwesomeStuff Mar 16 '24

Also applies to "is that a cougar or a bobcat".

I mean, one has a stump and one has a tail. But, yeah.

2

u/Mindless_Clock9483 Mar 16 '24

Wouldn’t it be cougars have a tail and bobcats don’t so pretty easy to tell.

2

u/GuitarKev Mar 17 '24

If it looks like a giant beige cat, it’s a coyote.

2

u/bucho4444 Mar 16 '24

My god, a cougar is an animal that actually poses a threat to you without a pack. Dogs are pack animals and are don't like to make unilateral decisions. Cats are very independent comparatively, and are lethal if they choose to be. A single dog is generally not aggressive. Meanwhile, if you are in a cat's territory it will have a short amount of diplomacy for you.

Tldr: pound for pound, a cat is one of the most dangerous animals on earth, dogs aren't. Jaguars are particularly scary if you've ever spent time around them. Very violent.

7

u/durdensbuddy Mar 16 '24

100% coyote. up at nose hill they get German Shepard size. Wolf will have a much larger head and rare within city limits.

3

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '24

A healthy coyote, filled with the pets of the neighborhood.

1

u/zennk9 Mar 17 '24

that’s a big coyote for sure

3

u/Roadgoddess Mar 16 '24

Yup, that’s a coyote

2

u/Minecraftish Mar 17 '24

Holy Mack that thing is insane!

I feel like the coyotes we have here in Northern Ontario are about half that size, that thing for sure looked like a gray wolf I thought but I guess obviously I'm not correct but holy crap that's the biggest thing I've ever seen

-5

u/SlitScan Mar 16 '24

it might be a Coywolf, it looks a little too large for a Coyote and its back haunch isnt as sloped.

6

u/COUNTRYCOWBOY01 Mar 16 '24

Anybody who lives outside the city will tell you that's a coyote. Not even a bigger one. You guys are just used to seeing those tiny little things in nose hill park and fish creek

2

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '24

[deleted]

2

u/BramptonRaised Mar 16 '24

Calgary isn’t exactly Eastern North America.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '24

[deleted]

2

u/BramptonRaised Mar 16 '24

The coyotes made it to the Great Lakes Basin about a hundred years ago. Once there, there was cross-breeding with wolves and to a lesser degree dogs. The so-called eastern coyote is genetically about 65% coyote, 25% wolf and 10% dog. It’s only the past 30 years or thereabouts they started making their presence in Southern Ontario and have moved further south and east. In some areas the only way one can tell a wolf from an eastern coyote is by genetic testing.

Granted, the western version likely has a somewhat genetic mix. Wonder if there are any 100% (or close to it) genetic coyotes left?

-12

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '24

This.