The coyote is a member of the dog family. Coyotes have coats of tan and gray fur, bushy black-tipped tails, pointed ears and noses. A fully grown coyote is almost four feet long, weighing between 20-30 pounds. Coyotes are fast runners. The coyote’s original habitat was the Great Plains, but its range has expanded from the prairies to include southwest deserts, mountain forests and even urban environments. The coyote has become the most well adapted and widespread mammal in the United States.
Coyotes are mostly solitary, although they sometimes travel in a group called a pack. The coyote stays with a single mate for life. Coyote pups are born in the spring. The father delivers food to the den entrance, which may be a burrow underground, in a hill of dirt, or a hollow tree. By autumn the young leave to find food and territories of their own. Coyotes mainly eat small animals such as rabbits, squirrels, and rodents of all kinds. They help to control rats and other crop-destroying pests. Coyotes will also eat birds, fish, insects, dead animals, berries, and whatever else they can find.
The coyote’s best known trait is its distinctive cry of one long mournful howl, which has become identified as the song of the American West. However, as anyone who has heard their evening “concert” will tell you, coyote calls can also consist of a series of howls and sharp barks, a sequence of high-pitched yips and yelps, as well as a combination of huffs, growls, shrieks, squeals, wails, whines and whimpers. Sometimes the coyote vocalizations sound eerie and disturbing, while other times they are quite beautiful.
Primarily nocturnal, coyotes are commonly heard between sunset and sunrise, especially at dusk. They are also more active in the spring and fall. If more than one coyote is in the same vicinity, the howling of one triggers that of the others. Two coyotes howling in unison can create the illusion of a dozen or more. They have strong voices, and humans can hear their howl up to ten miles away. But the coyote’s howl can be deceiving due to the way the sound carries. It may seem as though it’s coming from one direction, when the coyote is actually somewhere else. The coyote’s call may also sound closer or farther away than it really is.
Coyotes are common figures in American Indian myths and legends. The coyote’s personality traits include cleverness, mischievousness, and trickiness, although in some stories he is the butt of jokes, in a few stories he actually proves to be helpful (or even heroic), and on the rare occasion he represents evil. The coyote also appears in “just so stories” that attempt to explain natural animal characteristics, such as why rabbits have long ears.
Roadrunner vs. Coyote
This is a fun game for inline skaters to play. You will need a whistle, chalk, inline skates, and safety gear (helmet, wrist guards, knee and elbow pads). On a smooth flat surface, draw a long chalk line to represent the edge of a cliff. Skaters take turns going as fast as they can toward the line. When you blow the whistle, they have to stop. If they can do so before going over the cliff, they are the Roadrunner. If they go over, they are the Coyote. As the skaters get better at stopping, blow the whistle closer and closer to the line.
Books
“Coyote: A Trickster Tale from the American Southwest,” by Gerald McDermott.
“Borreguita and the Coyote,” by Verna Aardema and Petra Mathers.
“The Tale of Rabbit and Coyote,” by Tony Johnston.
“Coyote Goes Walking,” by Tom Pohrt.
“Coyote Places the Stars,” by Harriet Peck Taylor.
“Coyote and the Grasshoppers,” by Dominic.
“Navajo Coyote Tales,” by Father Berard Haile.
“Coyote Autumn,” by Bill Wallace.
“Watchdog and the Coyotes,” by Bill Wallace.
Web Sites
www.extremezone.com/~swref/sounds/coyotevocal.htm (A chart of coyote vocalizations and what they mean, from the Southwest Wildlife Rehabilitation and Educational Foundation.)
www.wellpinit.wednet.edu/sal-myths/myths.php (Native American myths and legends, many of which feature the coyote.)
www.angelfire.com/trek/archaeology/coyote.html (The coyote in rock art.)
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