The coyote that managed to swim to Alcatraz Island earlier this year likely made the epic journey from Angel Island State Park, not San Francisco as previously presumed, the National Park Service said Monday. Officials don’t know where the coyote is now, but they were able to match him to Angel Island’s coyote population thanks to a scat sample. That means the coyote likely accomplished a nearly 2-mile swim between the two islands instead of a roughly 1-mile journey from San Francisco. “We are surprised by the coyote’s origin,” National Park Service wildlife ecologist Bill Merkle said in a statement. “Our working assumption was that the coyote made the swim from San Francisco because it is a significantly shorter distance. We couldn’t help being impressed by his accomplishment in making it to Alcatraz. Coyotes are known to be resilient and adaptable, and he certainly demonstrated those qualities.” After the coyote was spotted on Alcatraz in late January, park biologists launched a mission to learn more about the animal. Staff searched the island for tracks, installed trail cameras and audio recording devices, and collected samples for lab testing, the park service said. Coyote scat that was collected on the island was submitted to UC Davis for DNA analysis. San Francisco Jan 28 Coyote spotted swimming near Alcatraz Island makes it to the island San Francisco Jan 19 Caught on camera: Coyote swimming near Alcatraz Island Dr. Ben Sacks at UC Davis said the Alcatraz coyote would have come from one of three distinct coyote populations: San Francisco, Southern Marin or Angel Island. “Our lab was able to take the DNA sample and match it to a coyote previously sampled from the Angel Island population,” Sacks said in a statement. Alcatraz staff spent the past several months keeping an eye out for the coyote in hopes of relocating it to a more suitable habitat, but the animal’s whereabouts are unknown at this time. No evidence points to the coyote still being on the island, and no remains have been found, the park service said. “We don’t know what happened to the coyote,” Merkle said in a statement. “But he proved himself an expert swimmer to get to Alcatraz, and I hope he made a successful swim back home to Angel Island.” ...read more read less