Coyote

About the coyote

The coyote, also known as the American jackal, prairie wolf, or brush wolf, is a species of canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative the gray wolf and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. Ecologically, it fills much of the same role in North America that the golden jackal fills in Eurasia, though the coyote tends to run larger than its Old World counterpart.

Males average 8 to 20 kg (18 to 44 lb) and females average 7 to 18 kg (15 to 40 lb), though size varies by geography: northern subspecies average around 18 kg (40 lb), while the southern subspecies found in Mexico average a lighter 11.5 kg (25 lb). Total length averages 1.0 to 1.35 m (3 ft 3 in to 4 ft 5 in), including a tail of about 40 cm (16 in), and the largest coyote on record, a male killed near Afton, Wyoming, in 1937, measured 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) and weighed 34 kg (75 lb). Its fur is predominantly light gray and red or fulvous, mixed with black and white, though coyotes at higher elevations tend toward more black and gray tones while desert-dwelling coyotes run more fulvous or whitish-gray. Compared to the gray wolf, the coyote is smaller overall but has longer ears and a proportionally larger braincase, along with a thinner frame, face, and muzzle; it also carries its tail down rather than horizontal when moving. Albinism is extremely rare in the species: of 750,000 coyotes killed by hunters between 1938 and 1945, only two showed traits consistent with albinism.

The coyote was first scientifically described by naturalist Thomas Say in 1819, based on an expedition near the site of Lewis and Clark's Council Bluffs, and the species had already been noted during the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804 to 1806. The English name comes from the Spanish "coyote," itself borrowed from the Nahuatl word "coyōtl," with the first English-language usage appearing in 1824. Its scientific name, Canis latrans, translates to "barking dog," a nod to its varied vocalizations. The species holds a prominent place in Native American folklore, especially in Aridoamerica, where it is often depicted as a trickster figure that can take the form of either an actual coyote or a man.

Behavior and diet

The coyote is highly flexible in its social organization, living either in a family unit or in loosely knit packs of unrelated individuals, and it is capable of adapting to environments reshaped by humans, with urban coyotes now common in many American cities. It is primarily carnivorous, and its diet includes deer, rabbits, hares, rodents, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and invertebrates, though it will also eat fruits and vegetables on occasion. Its howl, which rapidly shifts in tone and pitch, is one of its most recognizable traits.

Humans pose the greatest threat to coyotes, followed by cougars and gray wolves. While coyotes have not been documented mating with gray wolves in the wild, they do interbreed with eastern wolves and red wolves, producing hybrids sometimes called "coywolves." In the northeastern United States and parts of Canada, the larger eastern coyote subspecies is the result of this history of interbreeding with wolves, though it remains smaller than a true wolf. Genetic studies have found that most North American wolves carry some level of coyote DNA, reflecting a long history of genetic exchange between the two.

Cultural attitudes toward the coyote have shifted over time. It held a respected place in Mesoamerican cosmology as a symbol of military strength, but after European colonization of the Americas, Anglo-American culture increasingly portrayed it as cowardly and untrustworthy, an image that has proven more durable than the improving public perception of the wolf.

Range and habitat

The coyote is native to North America and was historically confined largely to open plains and arid regions of the western half of the continent at the time of European colonization. Since then, it has proven able to adapt to and expand into environments modified by humans, and it now occupies a much broader range, including urban areas. In 2013, a coyote was sighted for the first time in eastern Panama, across the Panama Canal from its historical home range, suggesting the species' range continues to expand southward.

The species recognizes 19 distinct subspecies across its range, a reflection of how widely it has spread and diversified across different climates and habitats in North America and beyond.

Conservation status

The coyote is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, based on a 2018 assessment, owing to its wide distribution and abundance throughout North America. Its adaptability, including its ability to live alongside people in cities and other developed areas, has helped it spread; urban coyotes are now common in many cities, and the species was first sighted in eastern Panama, across the Panama Canal from its former range, in 2013.

Humans are the coyote's greatest threat, followed by cougars and gray wolves. Far from shrinking, its range has grown over the past century: coyotes from the northern Great Plains spread east in the early 20th century, reaching New York and Pennsylvania by the 1940s.