Editing Eastern wolf (section)

====Ancestor====
The software that is currently used to conduct whole genome analysis for evidence of hybridization does not distinguish between past and present hybridization. In 2021, an mDNA analysis of modern and extinct North American wolf-like canines indicates that the extinct Late Pleistocene [[Beringian wolf#Range|Beringian wolf]] was the ancestor of the southern wolf [[Clade#Definition|clade]], which includes the [[Mexican wolf]] and the [[Great Plains wolf]]. The Mexican wolf is the most ancestral of the gray wolves that live in North America today. The modern coyote appeared around 10,000 years ago. The most genetically basal coyote mDNA clade pre-dates the [[Last Glacial Maximum]] and is a haplotype that can only be found in the Eastern wolf. This implies that the large, wolf-like [[Pleistocene coyote]] was the ancestor of the Eastern wolf. Further, another ancient haplotype detected in the Eastern wolf can be found only in the Mexican wolf. The authors propose that Pleistocene coyote and Beringian wolf admixture led to the Eastern wolf long before the arrival of the modern coyote and the modern wolf.<ref name=Wilson2021/>