![]() Unlike their close relative the gray wolf, whose populations have decreased since the time of human settlement and expansion in North America, coyote populations have grown tremendously in the wake of modern urbanization.Ĭoyotes are seasonally monogamous, which means they retain the same breeding partner for a given breeding season (and sometimes multiple, consecutive seasons). Populations that have been exploited by hunters compensate for losses by having larger litters of pups. Animals living in these areas tend to change their activity patterns to being active at night to avoid contact with humans. In addition to a wide variety of natural landscapes, coyotes also inhabit urban and suburban areas. The main reason coyotes have been so successful in their generalist ways is their ability to adapt, namely to changes in the environment. In fact, hybridization and introgression (mixing) of coyote genes into the red wolf genome has sufficiently contaminated the genetic identity of the red wolf enough to question its integrity as a valid species. These hybrids have a greater amount of genetic variability than ‘purebred’ coyotes and introduce a vast amount of diversity into the reproducing population. Coyotes can produce viable offspring with wolves as well as domestic dogs. There are currently 19 recognized subspecies of the coyote, many of them specific to certain habitats and geographic areas.Īnother reason for so much variation in coyotes is due to their ability to hybridize with closely-related canids. Since then, they have adapted to survive in just about every North American ecosystem there is. Coyote EvolutionĬoyotes evolved from a wolf-like canid in North America during the Pleistocene epoch almost 2 million years ago. Social habits vary depending on geographic area for example, animals that live at northern latitudes tend to coalesce into packs in order to bring down larger prey like ungulates (especially in the winter when other prey are scarce), whereas animals that live in the desert tend to be solitary hunters, pursuing smaller prey like rabbits and rodents. Although they are classified as carnivores, their food habits are quite omnivorous their diet consists of rodents, rabbits, amphibians and reptiles, birds, eggs, insects, invertebrates, fruit and vegetative matter, deer, carrion… pretty much anything they can find! The generalist habits of the coyote have allowed it to be successful in a variety of habitats from desert to tundra and everything in between.Ĭoyotes are semi-social animals they can be solitary, or form traveling pairs or packs (kind of the midway between solitary foxes and pack-forming wolves). The coyote is a highly adaptable canid whose versatility has allowed it to occupy a wide range of niches throughout North and Central America. Vocalizations are most often performed at dusk or during the night and are most common during the breeding season when animals are seeking potential mates and in the fall when subadults are establishing territories. For the most part coyotes are diurnal or crepuscular (active at dawn and dusk), but have more nocturnal habits where they reside in close proximity to humans.Ĭoyotes are highly vocal animals and have a repertoire of barks, yips, howls, and yelps that they use to communicate with each other. This was good for coyotes in many ways: it removed the main predators of coyotes (brown bears, wolves, and pumas) from much of the landscape, and it created more edge habitat which increased populations of small mammals, providing an increased prey base.Ĭoyote behavior and social interactions vary greatly with season and geographic region. As settlers moved west, they cleared forested land for agriculture, causing major habitat fragmentation. Historically, coyotes were a plains species and inhabited much of the central and middle portions of North America prior to European settlement. Coyotes are a medium-sized canid (typical adults weigh between 25 and 35 pounds) similar in resemblance to a domestic German shepherd. The coyote is one of six species of extant (currently living) members of the genus Canis, which includes the gray and Ethiopian wolves, the coyote, and three species of jackals. ![]()
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