We can hear them vocalizing (some would say yelping) many evenings on the Meadowlark campus.  We sometimes see their tracks here-or-there in mud or soft soil, or a tuft of either fur or feathers that makes us wonder if it’s a leftover from some coyote meal. We sometimes see them out in a field or pasture or racing across the highway in front of us. They work very hard at keeping their distance from humans. In spite of the mystique surrounding them, and the fact that they occur everywhere, coyotes (Canis latrans) present no direct danger to us. 

Wildlife biologists claim that coyotes can be found in every county in each of the lower 48 states. They also occur deep into Mexico, across southern and western Canada, much of Alaska and the Maritime Provinces. Biologists also claim that coyotes can be found in every big city in the Lower 48. They have learned to live in close proximity humans. They are survivors!

Part of the coyotes’ evolutionary success comes from the fact that they, like the opossum, will eat almost anything, if necessary. But, from the world-wide perspective, so do humans! The coyote diet changes with the food choices in their environment. In contrast is the lovable koala of eastern Australia, which eat only eucalyptus tree leaves, not a good long-term survival plan.   

Highly adaptable, coyotes can change not only their diets to fit whatever foods are available, but also their activity patterns. They tend to be most active at dawn or dusk in the East, and they hunt either during the day or night in the West, depending on human interference and prey activity. Where persecuted, they tend to sleep in dens or heavy vegetation, but they may sleep in open areas where not disturbed. The maternal den may be under a rock ledge or hollow tree, but usually in a burrow, either newly dug or an existing den modified and enlarged.

The coyote, not a large animal, relies on its cleverness and adaptability. No wonder that in the theology of certain Native American societies, the coyote is considered to be the trickster. Not exactly the 800-lb gorilla that sleeps wherever it wishes, the coyote body size is between 28-31 inches long with a body weight of 20-50 pounds. Males are slightly larger than females. Coyotes are smaller in the desert SW and Mexico, larger in the north, and largest in the Northeast, where they are thought to have hybridized with the grey wolf (Canis lupus). Coyotes are found in a great variety of habitats, except deep within large tracts of unbroken forest. They primarily are open country animals, and are one of the fastest, reaching speeds of 40 MPH.

Just as crows seem to have a language wrapped up in the loud “caws” that they frequently produce, it is reasonable to assume that coyotes have their long-distance language contained within their group sings or howls. What they are saying remains a mystery, but perhaps the howls do announce location, or have a territorial or spacing function. I say long-distance language because coyotes, as do many other animals, also produce several local low-level sounds within the family group that we do not normally hear. Researchers say the coyote makes at least 11 different local vocalizations, and that they are associated with alarm, threats, submission, greeting, and contact maintenance. 

A female chooses a mate one or two years after she is born, and the pair often stay together for years or for life. Breeding occurs Jan-March, and gestation time averages 63 days. The female has one litter per year, with twoto 12 pups, but usually four to six. For the first weeks, the male brings food to her, and in time, to the young. The pups begin eating regurgitated meat at about three weeks and are weaned at about six weeks into a hard and dangerous life. Although few live that long, the longest-lived known coyote in the wild was 14.5 years. 

   The coyote has long been a problem for cattle ranchers and sheep herders. They do take a significant number of sheep and calves, but they are not known to kill just for fun, as do humans. Much effort, and many dollars, by both herders and the Federal Government have been aimed at controlling (or eliminating) the coyote threat to livestock. But coyote populations remain a testament to the adaptive ability of the species. A basic biological fact on the open range is the relationship between predators and available prey. A basic human idea is to eliminate all predators from a range used for raising animals for profit. But how much profit? How much do we want to pay for the after effects of upsetting natural relationships? 

We are on the front end of learning the great prices to be paid for upsetting the natural cycles—and we ain’t seen nothin’ yet up against what is to come. If we learn nothing else from our current ecological struggles, it must be the realization that the crust of our Earth does not exist only for us, that other species do not have to just get out of the way of whatever we may choose to do with the land. We must learn to co-exist alongside other creatures. Each living thing is an individual that has that rare gift of life, and each, as we insist for ourselves, deserves to be treated with honor and respect.

Francois Leydet, in his book, The Coyote: Defiant Songdog of the West, relates how one day, after several years, “a coyote, old, tired, somewhat arthritic, somewhat shrunken, lies down in the shade of a juniper or in a clump of sumac or dogwood, taking a long look across the valley of his life, then resting his head on his forepaws and letting death come, meeting it with acceptance, with dignity, without fear and without regrets.”