[665]The old dog's tricks

I'm SO excited to see Coyote again!

But what about 1337? Hypothetically, I think the best thing to do would be to say to them that the behaviour is really terrible.

Anyway...

Coyote! He might have answers! To questions!

We did get some information on Annie's first (and so far, only and most recent) visit to Coyote - about Reynardine's backstory, the making of the chasm through which the Annan Waters flow, and the mention that the humans of Gunnerkrigg were trying to control the animals of Gillitie before Coyote stepped in. But, yes, Coyote gave her (and us) less information than I think we were expecting, cheerfully digressing into old legends about himself or pulling down the moon at almost every turn. (Not that we should have been surprised; in his first appearance, in Chapter Fourteen, he showed the same rambling tendencies - chatting about everything except the business at hand until Ysengrin showed signs of impatience.)

WOo0, Coyote.

I'm exicted what more information Annie will get out of him. I'm betting on loads of useless bits and one biiig thing, that'll trow us all off and again raises more questions than it answers.

Because the real SpiritMedium "g" looks really odd?

If we want to be super-nitpicky, this chapter ought to be about Ysengrim. He's a wolf, and domestic dogs (ALL domestic breeds) are so recently descended from wolves that some biologists don't acknowledge a separate species. Wolf-dog hybrids are common enough that apparently the animals don't recognize the distinction either.

Coyotes are more distantly related - although they can interbreed with wolves/dogs and produce fertile offspring, breeding cycles and pheromones don't quite match so interbreeding is unusual.

Foxes are MUCH more distantly related, and there is no verified case of a fox-dog crossbreed. The one alleged instance with the best supporting evidence was infertile. There is a huge chromosome-count difference: wolves/dogs have 78 chromosomes, while some foxes have 38 chromosomes and others 64.

(Note: there are some wild species named "dog" that are as far from wolves as foxes are.)

Now, that being said, I think that Ysengrim is the LEAST likely of the three major canids in this story to be the center of attention. Although there is a huge difference between "least likely" and "definitely not".

Heh. If you look at the design just right, it almost looks like those vertical lines at the top are teeth and the entire thing is a stylized image of Coyote.

Aye, they do bear a certain resemblance but if we want to get into real wild guessing Id say they bear the likeness of the spirals on the shell of a particular mollusc ;D

Oh boy, it's time again?

I love that guy.

Technically, things like the biology post are exactly what you should be paying attention to, because Tom is big on research and accuracy. Importantly, in his Black Dogs of the British Isles page, there are no wolves, despite the fact that there are certainly wolf stories in the UK, some of which may involve black ones. The Lean Dog, Moddy Dhoo, Cwn Annwn, and Gurt Dog are all dogs proper.

Yes, but "black dog" is a folklore category and doesn't really relate to color. It's a British ghost thing, the same way a "woman in white" doesn't actually need to wear white to qualify.