Via Shutterstock.

Via Shutterstock.

Update: Nevermind, turns out there are no Coywolves in Rock Creek Park, the NPS tells WTOP. Bummer.

In addition to millennials, D.C. has another species that’s slowly been invading the city over the past decade: Coyote-wolf hybrids (otherwise known as coywolves).

It’s no secret that coyote sightings in Rock Creek Park have been reported by the National Park Service since at least 2004, but what you may not know is that the breed of coyote typically found in the park in the Eastern U.S. is actually a coyote-wolf hybrid. As Gizmodo’s “Indefinitely Wild” reports, most coyotes on the East coast and Canada have bred with wolves:

After breeding with wolves in Canada, the Eastern coyote is now far larger and heavier than their Western relatives, easily reaching 50 pounds or more — twice the size of a coyotes found elsewhere in the country. They are flourishing. Most Eastern states have an open, year round, hunting season for these animals, and yet every year their numbers grow as they spread further afield.

Gizmodo’s Gareth Wishart recounts a recent experience encountering a coywolf in Rock Creek Park, while animal watching in a secluded park of the park. Here’s his report of the encounter:

It follows a well-worn deer trail in front of me, and stops as it hits my scent like a brick wall. Staring directly at me, we lock eyes at 10 yards. It can smell me, but can’t make out my shape nestled at the base of the tree. It takes a few more steps, then stops and looks again. I raise my binoculars. Large, even with its winter fur shed, it is an impressive animal. But too quickly the moment is gone, and the coyote continues on its way, readying for the night’s hunting. Heart still pounding, I breathe. The woods are silent again. Slowly I stand up to leave and realize there is a wobble to my knees, as there is with all good wildlife encounters.

Breeding with wolves has made the Eastern coyote a lot bigger than the ones found in the west, which offers them a wider variety of prey in Rock Creek Park, including deer. But while coywolves can grow to be 50 pounds are more, the NPS says they aren’t a threat to people. Your pets, however, may be a different story.