Coydogs here tend to be roughly Pointer-sized, around 40-50 lbs. Many of the specimens from northern states are very likely carrying a high percentage of Timber Wolf genes, which is why they are so large, and this is going to become even more of a factor now that wolves are re-entering their old stomping grounds once more. We do not have wild wolves here in South Carolina-Dingoes, yes, but no wolves. But, yes, hyenas are intelligent, and are also pack animals. I think that the one factor which would prevent them from surviving up where you are would be the winter weather, which is very different from sub-Sahara Africa! Still, the NY law is not so much to prevent non-native species from establishing there, as to protect humans from ourselves-Big Brother in all his glory. It's based on the assumption that if something has even the remotest chance it could hurt someone, ban it, for our sakes, without of course bothering to find out if something is a legitimate threat or not. A bite from a native Wolf spider, while not life-threatening, has a longer-lasting and more painful effect than a bite from Rosehaired tarantula, and is MUCH worse than a sting from an Emperor Scorpion, but the latter two are banned as being "dangerous". Ditto for a critter called a Solfugid(the infamous "Camel spider" of Urban Legend), which has NO venom at all; I guess it was banned based on its looks alone-"if it LOOKS scary, ban it!" All laws like this serve to do is to promote the often-erronous beliefs that things like spiders are inherently evil and horrible and always deadly, which counteracts any attempts by people like the late Steve Irwin to try to educate the public.

pitbulllady

Camel Spider is a scary-looking bug for sure.

Its the same thing with rifles, believe it or not, if a gun has black plastic stock on it as oppossed to a traditional wooden one it is automatically the target of a would-be ban, regardless of the gun itself.

with the way winter looks now, i don't think environment would be a factor anymore LOL!

Hmmmm...methinks i hijacked the thread. Sorry!

okay I am not scared of spiders but..... my sister does the most dumbest things because she is scared of spiders it makes me so mad!!:terrence: (belive me you to not want to know know what she does):o

Most people in my family are afraid of spiders, and even tend to kill them: not fair! They also deserve to live, even though they look a bit nasty.
I'm not afraid of them but I do not fancy to hold one.

My firend's son got stung by a bark scorpion recently; terrified? Absolutely!

I'm scared of spiders as well... especially 3 types:
- Long-legged ones, those freak me out, no matter how tiny they are, ewww!!!
- Ones with huge abdomen and small legs.
- Big ones, I mean, larger than 4 cms.
As for tiny little ones that sometimes crawl on me, all I can say is "Awww, how cuteee!!!"

But I got over it somehow. I simply took out my camera and began to photograph cross spiders, and filled my DeviantArt gallery with the results: cross spider in the darkness, cross spider in the light, closeups, profiles, etc...

I'm particularly proud of this one:
http://ic3.deviantart.com/fs12/i/200...omalhaut48.jpg
Link: http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/40331600/

Nice pictures! Good ole' Araneus diadematus-believe it or not, we have this species here in the US, too. That girl is sure wrapping up that Assassin Bug!

pitbulllady

I know you like spiders, check out my DA gallery, there are some more. :D

I love spiders (from Mars lololol), but scorpions scare the stardust out of me. Stingy stingy.

My mom is horrible, she smushes any bugs she sees and LEAVES THEM ON THE WALL because she thinks it'll scare away other bugs.

This one time though, there was an egg sack in our glass cupboard and I opened it up and there were spiders all over the cups. AAHHHH!

Ooo creepy crawlies!

Now I love the spiders, people think I'm nuts when I see one and gently take it outside...everybody else usually freaks out!
We even have a bunch of various spideys all over my parents house and they cannot imagine getting rid of them.
Last summer we had quite a few, with some newcomers fighting the regulars over the best spots by the house. I of course got pics of one of the "fights" which were sometimes brutal!
http://www.oneandonemakefive.com/gal...m01/spider.jpg
The defending spider (the brown one) started getting attacked by that red one, and both they and the web dissapeared. We were getting worried but then the brown one returned a couple of days later and just spun a new web in like, minutes.

I have more pics of that "fight" here if you want to take a look. Photographing Spiders is fun! :D