Sharman Apt Russell is a nature writer and the author of “What Walks This Way: Discovering the Wildlife Around Us Through Their Tracks and Signs.” He currently lives in Gila, New Mexico, while retaining long-standing connections to Maine.

As the eastern coyote is more frequently seen on city streets in Portland, as well as in the countryside, the animal is often described as a newcomer.

Well, yes and no.

Back up 60 million years. The order Carnivora first appears in North America. Those early carnivorans diverge into caniforms, or doglike animals, and feliforms, or catlike animals. For those of us who love our dogs, it’s a thrill to know that the Caninae or modern dog family originated right here.

The feet of these early canines elongated upward so that the animal could run on four toes, with a springier ankle joint and longer legs for greater speed in chasing prey. Using their claws to keep traction on the ground, the canids evolved into dozens of different species.

Eventually, some members of the dog family left home and crossed the Bering land bridge to colonize Eurasia, then Europe, then Africa. The gray wolf was such a species, becoming a gray wolf perhaps in the Beringia region, spreading across the world, and then returning to North America.  

The coyote, on the other hand, became a coyote in North America and never left. Two million years ago, fossil fragments found in Florida have the ancestors of modern coyotes living in the Eastern United States.

Flash forward to some 20,000 years ago. By now human hunters and their domesticated dogs have arrived in North America, although exactly when and how remains a lively scientific debate. Mammoths and sabertoothed cats dominate the grasslands, and teratorns circle the sky. This is a world of giant scale: the 2,000-pound giant short-faced bear, the 500-pound giant sloth, the 200-pound giant beaver.

In another 10,000 years, these animals and many others — some 70% of large land mammals — will all be extinct.

But the coyote is still here. The persistent coyote. The clever coyote. For thousands more years, people will tell stories about this trickster god, hundreds of coyote tales in dozens of Native American tribes.

Mostly the coyote and coyote stories seem confined to west of the Mississippi River. Even so, the Cherokee — with their long history in the Southeastern United States — still have legends about this animal. In their version, the craftier rabbit usually wins any contest.

In the 15th century, domestic dogs are again introduced to North America, this time accompanied by Europeans. These breeds largely replace those of the Native Americans due to new infectious canine diseases. The same Europeans kill off much of the gray wolf population.

About a hundred years ago, coyotes from Western North America enter the Great Lakes area and meet a decimated wolf population desperate for mates. The coyotes oblige. Within a few decades, feral dogs are introduced into the mix.

Today, we recognize the eastern coyote as having a genetic makeup of roughly 60% coyote, 30% wolf and 10% domestic dog. Individual animals can vary widely, however, and eastern coyotes in Southern states show a slightly different genetic mix. For this reason, the entire eastern subspecies is sometimes called “coyote soup.”

The eastern coyote is a remarkable adaptation of the original coyote joining forces and genes with other canine species who also have a long history here. Coyotes have recently filled niches in the East once occupied by gray wolves and mountain lions. But they are not newcomers. They are native sons and daughters, deeply rooted in this land.