Ice Age coyotes were supersized compared to coyotes today, fossil study reveals

Ice Age coyotes were supersized compared to coyotes today, fossil study reveals. National Evolutionary Synthesis Center, February 27, 2012.  Coyotes today are pint-sized compared to their Ice Age counterparts, finds a new fossil study. Between 11,500 and 10,000 years ago — a mere blink of an eye in geologic terms — coyotes shrunk to their present size. The sudden shrinkage was most likely a response to dwindling food supply and changing interactions with competitors, rather than warming climate, researchers say. Picked up by the Huffington Post, Wired, MSNBC, and Science Magazine.