Ernst Mayr defined a species as, “species are groups of interbreeding natural populations that are reproductively isolated from other such groups.” With this in mind we know that all three species are able to interbreed. However, they are not necessarily reproductively isolated from other such groups. These three species are able to mate and findings have shown that eastern Canis latrans have been found to more likely kill a dog than breed with it and their species continue to increase. Canis lupus populations found in the Great Lakes have recovered, and Canis lupus are the worst enemy of the Canis latrans. When these two-distinct species are interbreeding there is the creation of variation and mixing of genes. This is also known as a requirement for evolution. As mentioned in the article, “Gene flow continues in all directions, keeping things mixed up, and leading to continual variation over their range, with no discrete boundaries.” I believe that these three organisms are indeed separate species, however, they share a variety of similar characteristics that make them closely related. When these characteristics mix and interbreeding occurs it creates a viable and fertile offspring that might be able to catch their pray faster and make them stronger. As supported by the article, we could see that over time it could be possible that evolution would lead to a Canis latrans so specialized for eastern forests that they would be considered a unique species. But this would require a variety of things like cutting off gene flow with nonhybrid animals resulting in a variety of types of Canis latrans that almost never interbreed.
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