Genetic research from Cuyahoga Valley coyote blood samples provided one surprise, said Dr. Gregory Smith, a biology professor at the University of Akron who is involved in the three-year research project.It was believed most coyotes in Northeast Ohio evolved from smaller coyotes in the American Southwest. They spread to the East after the wolf was eliminated.Larger coyotes are found in eastern Pennsylvania and New York. They are believed to have moved north of the Great Lakes and interbred with wolves.A typical Ohio coyote is about 40 pounds. In eastern Pennsylvania and New York, coyotes might be 45 to 50 pounds.Unlike Ohio coyotes, the larger eastern coyotes also hunt white-tailed deer in packs. They are, Smith said, “more wolfy” than Ohio’s coyotes.But genetic material from the wolf-coyotes were found in three of the Cuyahoga Valley coyotes in 2010, Smith said.It was previously believed that the closest coyote with wolf genetic markers was in eastern Pennsylvania, but there is evidence those DNA markers are in the Ohio animals, he said.That could lead to larger coyotes and perhaps animals hunting in packs, but such changes would not be evident for decades, he said.Nineteen Cuyahoga Valley coyotes had their DNA analyzed in the first two years, Smith said.Latest blood samples will be analyzed in early 2012, he said.Smith has been working on that aspect with UA biology professor Joel Duff and undergraduate honor student Brittney Riordan.— BOB DOWNING