Pleistocene coyote Pleistocene coyote The Pleistocene coyote ("Canis latrans orcutti"), also known as the Ice Age coyote, is an extinct subspecies of coyote that lived in western North America during the Late Pleistocene era. Most remains of the subspecies were found in southern California, though at least one was discovered in Idaho. It was part of a carnivore guild that included other canids like foxes, gray wolves, and dire wolves. Compared to their modern Holocene counterparts, Pleistocene coyotes were larger and more robust, weighing , likely in response to larger competitors and prey rather than Bergmann's rule. Their skulls and jaws were
Plio-Pleistocene because the greater Plio-Pleistocene period covers the gradual but prolonged long-term cooling of the earth's atmosphere from the generally warmer temperatures of the late Oligocene / early Neogene times to and continuing through the Late Pleistocene—and indeed continuing through current times, if the present interglacial warming is considered as merely superimposed on the longer trend of cooling. Beginning about 3 mya, the late Pliocene saw the start of glaciation in the Northern Hemisphere, and many authors may informally use the term "Plio-Pleistocene" as a synonym for the period during which the Northern Hemisphere has been glaciated. Plio-Pleistocene The term Plio-Pleistocene