Coyotes are beautiful, intelligent creatures, with a flexible enough character to readily adapt to urban environments, so you may see them around. Today, let's savor the gift of this lovely lope-along and learn how to happily coexist.
In their look and behavior, coyotes resemble your regular household dog in many ways. Despite their beauty, intelligence, playful behavior, and affectionate natures, however, they have been wildly misunderstood and persecuted. As predators, they have been inaccurately accused of large-scale killing of livestock, for example. Growing up on a farm in an area with coyotes, and having thousands of cattle in the surrounding area, I never heard of our own cattle, or those of others, ever being molested by coyotes, even in summer pasture away from settlement where they roamed in greater numbers. I've also seen them loping down the street in towns were I've lived, heard them yipping at night through my bedroom window, and met them on the hiking trail. They're neither the stupid creatures depicted in cartoons, nor the dangers they're made out to be. I hope today's post may kindle more love and understanding for these magnificent creatures!
Coyotes - This gallery of photographs by Walter Nussbaumer offers beautiful images of coyotes--from pups to adults.
Coyotes Living on the Prairie - This gallery of photographs by Christopher Martin features excellent action shots of coyotes going about daily life in the wild.
She's One Cool Dog: Overview of the American Coyote - This short piece from a coyote advocacy non-profit group provides very good basic information about coyotes and how to coexist with them. For some more basic facts about coyotes, including whether they actually do chase and eat roadrunners (as in cartoons), check out these Coyote Facts.
Coyotes and Badgers Help Each Other Hunt - Who knew? Coyotes and badgers often collaborate in hunting.
Baby Coyotes Learn How to Howl - The coyote pups below are getting a great lesson in the fine art of coyote communication!
Howling Coyotes in Yellowstone National Park - Coyotes, of course, are known for their distinctive howling. This 3-minute video shows some coyotes talking with each other.
Coyote Pack Howl - Experience a coyote pack in full howl in this 1-minute video. The trail camera that recorded the sound didn't have the greatest microphone, so there's a tiny bit of scratchiness in the recording, but you'll definitely hear the howling just fine!
Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner - Of course, we can't really talk about coyotes without recalling the most famous one of all.