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(3,4)

Names: prairie wolf, brush wolf, little wolf, American jackal

Scientific name: Canis latrans

Type of Animal: Mammal

Animal Family: Canidae

Animal Order: Carnivora

Length: 3.3 to 4.4 ft.

Shoulder Height: 19.3 in

Weight: 15.4 to 44.1 lbs; males are slightly bigger and heavier than females.

Conservation Status: Least Concern

Other Facts: The coyote can run at speeds of up to 40 mph.

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According to, Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), there are 19 coyote subspecies. The ‘typical’ coyote is the Plains coyote, found in grasslands from Canada to New Mexico.

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According to, Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS), there are 19 coyote subspecies. The ‘typical’ coyote is the Plains coyote, found in grasslands from Canada to New Mexico.

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Other subspecies include the Mexican coyote, and the northern coyote⁽³⁾.

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Coyotes are one of the most adaptable canines on the planet. They can be found in a wide variety of habitat types: brush, woodlands, prairies, deserts, savannahs, subalpine forests, alpine meadows, open pine forests, and temperate rainforests(1,2,4). Coyotes have even adapted to living in neighborhoods and parks, most likely near you!

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1. Tkaczyk, F. (n.a.). Recognizing Coyote Habitat. Retrieved from  http://www.wildernesscollege.com/coyote-habitat.html.

2. Moore, GC, and Parker, GR. (1992). Colonization by the eastern coyote (Canis latrans). Retrieved from http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/summary/3745/0.

3. Integrated Taxonomic Information System: https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=180599#null

4. Gese, EM, Bekoff, M, Andelt, W, Carbyn, L. and Knowlton, F. (2008). Canis latrans. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2008: e.T3745A10056342.

5. Ballard, WB, Whitlaw HA, Young, SJ, Jenkins, RA, and
Forbes, GJ. (1999). Predation and survival of whitetailed
deer fawns in north central New Brunswick.
Journal of Wildlife Management 63:574–579.

6. Dumond, M, Villard, MA, and Tremblay, E. (2001). Does
coyote diet vary seasonally between a protected
and an unprotected forest landscape? Ecoscience,
8: 301–310.

7. Curtis, PD, Bogan, DA, and Batcheller, D. (2007).
Suburban coyote management and research needs:
a northeast perspective. Proceedings of Wildlife
Damage Management, 12: 413–417.

8. Dunn, AC, and Smith, MD. (2011). "The Coyote: Facts and Myths About Living with This Wild Canid." Retrieved from http://www.aces.edu/pubs/docs/A/ANR-1413/index2.tmpl

9. Ripple, WJ, Estes, JA, Beschta, RL, Wilmers, CC, Ritchie, EG, Hebblewhite, M,...and Schmitz, OJ. (2014). Status and ecological effects of the world’s largest carnivores. Science, 343(6167), 1241484.

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Coyotes hunt both day and night. They are very opportunistic feeders with a varied diet⁽¹⁾.

Rabbits

Small rodents

Birds

Fish

Deer

Elk

Lizards

And at times, insects, fruits, and berries!

Coyotes in urban and suburban areas often also scavenge garbage and have been know to occasionally eat small pets such as cats and small dogs(2,7). In rural areas they are known to prey on cattle and sheep(2,7).

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Adapt
Opportunistic
Predation
Keystone Species

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Coyotes were believed to have been restricted to the south-west and plains regions of the U.S. and Canada, and northern and central Mexico, prior to European settlement (2,3,4).

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1. Name a way in which coyotes are able to survive in suburban areas.

2. Why are coyotes important to the ecosystem?

3. Why is it important to study coyotes and their behavior?

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Newspapers across the country have written stories of coyotes attacking pets and sightings have been made across the U.S.

Maybe, you have even seen one in your own backyard?

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While walking her unleashed 12-year-old Maltese, Daisy, in her front yard on a chilly November night, Carol Cincinello noticed the silhouette of another animal.

Daisy, who was within 10 feet of Cincinello, suddenly yelped as a coyote sprang seemingly from nowhere and snatched her in its mouth. Horrified, Cincinello screamed and chased after the coyote then called police.

The responding officer saw the coyote with Daisy in its mouth but was also unable to save the dog.

"It's upsetting, very upsetting," Cincinello said, adding that her 14-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son were so shaken by Daisy's death that they won't let her take their new dog Dixie out at night.

Cincinello was one of three Wheaton dog owners to report coyote attacks on their pets in a two-week span in November and December.

Experts say it's coyote season in the suburbs, the time when young males separate from their families and search for their own place to live in preparation for the mating season next month.

That's not good news for cats and small-to medium-sized dogs.

"Coyotes at this time of year are trying to establish a territory, a mating territory," said Jack MacRae, naturalist for the DuPage County Forest Preserve. "Good territory doesn't have a lot of other dogs in it. They do go after dogs that they look at as intruders in their space."

The number of coyotes in the suburbs spiked in the early 1990s, and today about 2,500 to 3,500 coyotes live in the Chicago region, MacRae said.

"Coyotes have learned suburbia is better than rural areas," he said, adding that the animals are attracted to the diversity in the landscape and accessibility to a variety of food. "Every community in the Chicago region has coyotes in it."

A family will typically live in one location throughout the year, but when males turn about 6 months old in the early fall and winter, they are forced to leave the den and create their own territory, MacRae said. Females will occasionally stay with parents until the next litter is born the following spring.

While coyotes may seem rampant this time of year, they are still present -- but mostly unseen by humans -- during the summer months, when they are busy taking care of their young.

"Increased sightings and reports may not necessarily mean more coyotes," MacRae said, adding that the forest preserve always gets an increased number of calls after a story about coyotes appears in the news.

MacRae said he's not convinced coyotes are killing cats and small dogs for food, but Brad Lundsteen, owner of Suburban Wildlife Control, said he has found pets completely devoured by coyotes.

"With a lot of snow, they have a hard time finding food," he said, adding that the company, which serves Kane, DuPage and Cook counties, receives several calls a week about coyotes.

While their numbers may not have grown in recent years, coyotes' boldness has.

"Twenty years ago, a car horn, a door slamming, sent a coyote fleeing. Now it doesn't," MacRae said, adding that coyotes are always testing what they can get away with; if nothing negative happens to them in a location, they'll keep coming back.

Cincinello said that was the troubling part of the coyote's attack on Daisy.

"What scares me most is that they just don't seem to have the fear of human presence," she said, adding that for Christmas she gave her neighbors air horns to use if they see coyotes near their homes.

Hazing

While there is no way to get rid of all the coyotes, MacRae said people who don't want them moving into residential areas should take on the responsibility of scaring them off. The process is called "hazing."

"I think we have to ramp up hazing techniques," he said, explaining that it is necessary to use new methods to scare coyotes out of backyards, such as waving an empty garbage bag in the wind.

Many experts say hazing is a more effective method of combating coyotes' move into highly populated areas than trapping or killing.

However, some municipalities, including Wheaton, have tried such methods. There, a trapper was hired in late 2010 to capture and euthanize a small number of coyotes.

Michael Dzugan, Wheaton assistant city manager, said the trapping ceased after the city council received negative feedback from residents and people outside the city who disapproved of that approach.

MacRae said it's not likely to succeed, anyway.

"The amazing thing about coyotes is they tend to rebound and increase their numbers shortly after trapping ... it's just their behavior and their adaptability," he said, adding that when coyotes are killed it results in more food for the remaining coyotes and birthrates increase.

MacRae said he could recall only Grundy County as an area where locals attempted to kill coyotes to reduce their numbers. A bounty was offered and about 40 were killed quickly -- but no one really noticed a drop in sightings.

In early 2011, Wheaton adopted a public-awareness coyote policy, which provides residents with useful information about coyotes and prohibits people from feeding the animals.

Wheaton also asks residents to report coyote sightings and attacks on pets to police. The city keeps all reports on record and regularly alerts the media about attacks.

It appears that Wheaton may be more proactive than other towns when it comes to coyotes.

Joanne Aul, animal control supervisor for the Naperville Police Department, said in an email that in the past two years, Naperville has received nine reports of dogs being attacked by coyotes, but news releases were sent out only in summer 2012.

Other governmental agencies, like the Lake County Health Department, categorize attacks on pets by any animal into one number and don't provide public alerts about the attacks.

Schaumburg Police Sgt. John Nebl said while coyote attacks on pets are rarely reported in the village, he can't recall a time in the last seven years when an alert has been put out about coyotes.

Officials in St. Charles and Barrington say they haven't received any reports in the last two years of coyotes attacking small pets, but if reports were made, a public statement would be issued as a safety precaution and to raise awareness.

But it all boils down to pet owners' diligence.

"I don't think if you just see a coyote, it warrants a call to the authorities," MacRae said. "I don't think humans have to worry at all about coyotes, other than we need to watch our pets."

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Warning: Suburban coyotes view your pets as intruders

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It's coyote season in the suburbs: Young males separate from their families and search for their own place to live in preparation for the beginning of mating season. As a result, coyote attacks on ets are more likely. A Wheaton family had a coyote snatched their dog in the front yard, no more than 10 feet from its owner.

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Adapting by the season - Changes in diet

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Adapting by the season - Changes in diet

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One study found that coyotes have less difficulty finding food and a better variety of food in the winter months rather than summer months⁽⁶⁾.

Think about it! Humans are a lot more active in the summer, using the open habitats of coyotes more often. This leaves coyotes with a less variable diet, mostly fruits and vegetables.

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Remember, all wild animals are unpredictable and always use caution.

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Remember, all wild animals are unpredictable and always use caution.

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Suburban coyote management and research needs:

Scant research - to measure coyote behavioral ecology in human-altered
landscapes(6,7).

Changes in the social structure and territorial
behavior of coyotes⁽⁷⁾.

It is important to know when a
predator is active and where it forages, especially in
relation to human activity.

Birth and death rates (7).

Population influences on other species such as white tailed deer (5,7).

Suburban coyotes move quickly through populated landscapes, foraging opportunistically.

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Here are some steps you can take to reduce the chances of human-coyote conflicts from the USDA Wildlife Services:

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Here are some steps you can take to reduce the chances of human-coyote conflicts from the USDA Wildlife Services:

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- Do not feed coyotes.
- Eliminate sources of water, particularly in dry
climates.
- Bird feeders should be positioned so that coyotes
cannot get feed. Coyotes are attracted by bread,
table scraps, and even seed. They may also be
attracted by the birds and rodents that come to
feeders.
- Do not discard edible garbage where coyotes can
get to it.
- Secure garbage containers and eliminate garbage
odors.
- Feed pets indoors whenever possible. Pick up
any leftovers if feeding outdoors. Store pet and
livestock feed where it is inaccessible to wildlife.
- Trim and clean, near ground level, any shrubbery
that provides hiding cover for coyotes or prey.

For more information call your WS State office at 1-866-4-USDA-WS.

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How to tell the difference between Coyotes, Wolves, and Dogs.

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Distinguishing Between Coyotes, Wolves, and Dogs

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With land conversion and removal of wolves after 1900, coyotes expanded into all of the U.S. and Mexico, southward into Central America, and northward into most of Canada and Alaska⁽²⁾.

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This coyote comes from wilds of Tamaulipas, Mexico. He's not a coy dog or Ethiopian wolf as some have suggested, but 100% coyote. He let me film him as he was communicating with 6 of his fellow coyotes, who showed up shortly after this filming. I never felt threatened by them and enjoyed the encounter.

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Predation may function to regulate populations of white-tailed deer⁽⁵⁾. Rodents and insects form a significant portion of the coyote diet, making them possible eradicators of some pest species⁽⁸⁾.
According to research done at Alabama A&M University and Auburn University⁽⁸⁾,

Although specific data are unavailable, the carrion-scavenging behavior of coyotes may make them an important part of nature's cleanup crew. In addition, coyotes can be enjoyable to watch from a safe distance.

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Carnivores are keystone species. Even if you feel as though coyotes are a bother, they can have positive impacts on the ecosystem.

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Carnivores are keystone species. Even if you feel as though coyotes are a bother, they can have positive impacts on the ecosystem.

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Carnivores, like coyotes, keep wildlife numbers in balance and help prevent diseases (9). For example, if coyotes are keeping deer and rodent populations limited, they are helping to prevent the spread of Lyme Disease by the ticks that carry the disease.

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Coyotes can help enhance carbon storage by limiting the numbers of their herbivore prey, thus allowing plants to flourish as well!⁽⁹⁾