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They are here, maybe right in your own backyard, and they’re bred to hunt.

Coywolves are super-coyotes, larger and much more dangerous than their cousins because they are part wolf. They have been turning up in greater numbers in built-up areas in eastern North America, mostly in suburbs with nearby green space.

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Susan Fleming, a Windsor-born documentary maker, has spent 200 nights the last two years compiling footage of the rarely seen creatures for her new film, Meet the Coywolf, airing Feb. 14 on CBC-TV’s The Nature of Things.

Also called the eastern coyote, the coywolf shares traits of both coyotes and wolves and has been recognized as a separate species only in the last century. It’s an example of Darwinism at work.

“That is what’s remarkable,” said Fleming. “Here is a species adapting to its environment in order to survive, and it’s happening right under our noses. It’s a rare and beautiful thing.”