Coyote
Canis latransi; Coyote pups. Photo courtesy of Gerald and Buff Corsi © California Academy of Sciences.
JB: This is Earth and Sky… with a survivor’s story…
DB: In the past 50 years, some four million coyotes have been either poisoned, trapped, snared or shot. And not just by ranchers and hunters – a taxpayer-financed government agency – called Wildlife Services – killed 86 thousand coyotes in 1999 alone.
JB: But still the coyote is thriving. A century ago, coyotes were found only in the western US. Now they l’ve in every state except Hawaii. They’ve even been sighted dodging taxicabs in the Bronx. Marc Bekoff at the University of Colorado, Boulder, has been studying coyotes for more than a quarter century. He told us how the coyote is able to survive the kind of persecution that pushed the bison, wolf, and passenger pigeon toward extinction.
Marc Bekoff: Coyotes are amazingly adaptable animals. They can live in all sorts of habitats ranging from desert to high mountains . . . They can live in cold and warmth . . . they can live on mice, they can live on ground squirrels, they can live on lizards, they eat fruits. They’ll eat inanimate objects – they’ve been known to eat boots and belts and clothing.
DB: So coyotes are successfully adapting to our human-dominated world. And Dr. Bekoff says we can learn a lot about flexibility and versatility from coyotes by letting them be. Thanks today to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. We’re Block and Byrd for Earth and Sky.
The following person was interviewed for today’s program. Our thanks to:
Dr. Marc Bekoff
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of Colorado
Boulder, Colorado 80309-0334 USA
Our thanks to the following individuals and institutions who assisted in the preparation of this script:
The following books, articles and web sites were used in preparing this script:
Bekoff, Marc. “Tireless tricksters, protean predators, coyotes adapt to wasteful human extermination ploys”. The Daily Camera, November 18, 2001 http://www.thedailycamera.com/opinion/guest/18eg2w.html
Finkel, Mike, “The Ultimate Survivor”, Audubon, Volume 101, No. 3, May-June 1999
Marc Bekoff and Jane Goodall (Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals/Citizens Responsible for Responsible Animal Behavior Studies)
Coyote (DesertUSA.com)
Author’s Notes:
There’s even evidence that in areas where coyotes are killed, birth rates and litter size increase, the result of which is the maintenance or increase in coyote numbers.
Excerpts of phone interview w/Marc Bekoff 12 August 2003
ES: How many coyotes are getting killed each year? 1999 86,000 by wildlife control
BEKOFF [2.39] I think it’s safe to say that the number of …coyotes slaughtered now is easily over 100 thousand a year by professional slaughterers
ES: One would think that an animal so heavily persecuted would be endangered
BEKOFF [3.21] Coyotes are amazingly adaptable animals. They can live in all sorts of habitats ranging from desert to high mountains. They can live in arid communities, very dry communities. They can live in very wet communities. They can live in cold and warmth. And in addition to their adaptability for being able to live in different habitats, they also are really really adaptable predators. They eat innumerable objects, and the thing about coyotes is that they can live on mice, they can live on ground squirrels, they can live on lizards, they eat fruits. They’ll eat inanimate objects – they’ve been known to eat boots and belts and clothing
BEKOFF [5.08] coyote control and coyote slaughter has been going on for a hundred years or more, and it’s been tremendously UN-successful
BEKOFF [12.28] I think, if you will, the coolest thing about coyotes it that they are such adaptable beasts and that we can learn a lot about flexibility and versatility by basically letting them be.
Additional Teacher Resources
U.S. National Park Service, Wind Cave National Park: Coyote
This site provides a brief natural history of the coyote in Wind Cave National Park. The site focuses primarily on habitat, distribution, social structure, and the resilience of the species throughout the United States.
Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife: Life History Notes: Coyote
This site explores the natural history of the non-native coyote in Ohio. Included are sections on biology, breeding activity, migration patterns, habitat and social habits, reproduction and care of young, and human management practices.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Indian Health Service: Why Coyote Stopped Imitating his Friends; A Story from the Caddo Tribe
This site contains traditional Native American stories and folklore. This story is about a coyote who continuously imitates his friends, ultimately causing him a great deal of trouble. This is a good resource for finding environmentally centered stories that will hold the attention of younger students.
Predator Conservation Alliance, Saving a Place for America’s Predators: Coyote
This site argues that culling a coyote population can have the reverse effect of boosting population numbers. It claims that in exploited populations, animals breed earlier and litter size increases, thus killing coyotes as a means to reduce population does not work.
