Near the dawn of
time, the story goes; Coyote saved the creatures of Earth. According to the
mythology of Idaho's Nez Perce people, the monster Kamiah had stalked into the
region and was gobbling up the animals one by one. The crafty Coyote evaded
Kamiah but didn't want to lose his friends, so he let himself be swallowed.
From inside the beast, Coyote severed Kamiah's heart and freed his fellow
animals. Then he chopped up Kamiah and threw the pieces to the winds, where
they gave birth to the peoples of the planet.
– Nature
Yote - short for
coyote, Wile E. Coyote, Canis latrans. If
you were to inquire of a wildlife biologist they would tell you that there are
nineteen subspecies of coyote that are exceedingly well-adapted to living in
urban, rural and wild America.
Male coyotes top out at about 44 pounds while
females weigh-in slightly less. For scale my red golden retriever weighs-in at roughly 48 pounds, give or take. Coyotes
are known for how well they adapt to different habitats. They are found living in and around large
cities, the central plains, farmland, and northern forest, in the desert scrub
of the Sonoran Desert, foothills and mountains as well as in populated ring suburbs.
Coyotes dine on large prey and also eat snakes,
insects, rodents, fruit and other mast.
As an opportunistic hunter coyotes have been known to prey-upon small pets
and livestock. In an urban setting they
will eat garbage and pet food left on a deck or patio.
The coyote is a gregarious animal - socially-inclined
- like the wolf. This is likely a
consequence of the need for a family unit or pack of animals combining to bring
down large game.
Recent genetic studies
suggest that coyotes are not native to the eastern United States - having largely evolved on the Great Plains. As the eastern old growth forests were cleared for
settlement and agriculture coyotes adapted to the new environs. It is thought that coyotes dispersed to our
neck of the woods early in the twentieth century. These canids are presumed to have come from the
northern Great Plains and are unique in their genetic origins.
Additional coyotes dispersed from here to New England
via the northern Great Lakes region and southern Canada meeting in the 1940s in New
York and Pennsylvania. These coyotes
have inter-bred with gray wolf and
Eastern wolf populations adding to their own unique genetic diversity and further
contributing to their hybrid vigor and ability to adapt to an ever changing
environment. Coyotes here are known as
the Northeastern coyote.
More frequently
Jill and I hear coyote vocalizations than we see them live and in person. In
rural America coyotes share the same
natural aversion to people that other wildlife do. They are
scared-to-death of people. However, from time to time I do catch a
handful
of digital photos on a trail camera.
Like these recent captures....
 |
| Do you see two coyotes? |
.JPG)
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