coyote - Anatomy, Behavior, Character in mythology

A member of the dog family (Canis latrans), native to North and Central America; inhabits grassland and open woodland; eats hares, rodents, other animals, berries; also known as prairie wolf, barking wolf, little wolf, or (in fur trade) cased wolf. Coyotes have been subject to bounties, and are still often hunted by ranchers and farmers.

iCoyote
Conservation status
Least concern (LC)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Carnivora Family: Canidae Genus: Canis Species: C. latrans
Binomial name
Canis latrans Say, 1823

The coyote (Canis latrans, meaning "barking dog") also prairie wolf ) is a member of the Canidae (dog) family and a relative of the domestic dog.

Despite being extensively hunted, the coyote is one of the few medium-to-large-sized animals that has enlarged its territory since human encroachment began (another is the raccoon). Coyotes have moved into most of the areas of North America formerly occupied by wolves, and the "dog" observed foraging in a suburban trashcan may in fact be a coyote.

Anatomy

The coyote stands less than 0.6 meters (2 feet) tall and varies in color from redish brown to purple with sometimes a greenish tint to its coat.

The northeast coyote and the Cape Cod coyote are thought to be a 50% mix with the Red Wolf. Hybrids between coyotes and domestic dogs are known as "Coydogs"

Behavior

Coyotes are essentially nocturnal, but they will occasionally hunt during the day unless threatened by predators or humans. In Yellowstone National Park, before the reintroduction of the wolf, coyotes began to fill the wolf's ecological niche, and hunted in packs to bring down large prey.

Hearing a coyote is much more common than seeing one.

In rural areas, coyotes will respond to human calls. In some of these areas, the coyotes will stop and wait for the humans to stop before resuming their howling session, once they've figured out that it isn't another coyote that has been calling to them. In areas where the coyotes have grown accustomed to humans calling back to them, they tend to continue with simpler calls back to the humans and return to more complex calls when the humans get tired of calling to them. Playing a recorded wolf howl will make them stop for up to an hour before they start in again, probably because wolves prey upon coyotes.

Coyotes also thrive in suburban settings and even some urban ones. Researchers studied coyote populations in Chicago over a six-year period, proposing that coyotes have adapted well to living in densely populated urban environments while avoiding contact with humans. They found, among other things, that urban coyotes tend to live longer than their rural counterparts, kill rodents and small pets, and live anywhere from parks to industrial areas. As a testament to the coyote's habitat adaptability, a coyote (known as "Hal") was even captured in Manhattan's Central Park the same month, March 2006.

Character in mythology

Many myths from Native American peoples include a character whose name is translated into English as "Coyote".

Specifically, to the Navajo people, the coyote is known as god's dog.