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Canis latrans

(American Jackal)

Overview

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The common name coyote comes from the word used by Mexicos Nahuati Indians, coyoti. The scientific name literally means barking dog. Known as opportunistic predators , coyotes use keen hearing and an excellent sense of smell combined with their sharp eyesight to find their next meal . They avoid areas where there are wolves and extension of their range northward may be the result of settling in habitats where wolf populations have been eliminated.

Interesting Facts

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Common Names

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Click on the language to view common names.

Common Names in Dutch:

Cayote

Common Names in English:

American Jackal, Brush Wolf, Coyote, Prairie Wolf

Common Names in French:

Coyote

Common Names in Spanish:

Coyote

Description

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Physical Description

Species Canis latrans

Coyotes have a grey or reddish-grey coat with buff underparts, long, yellowish legs , a bushy tail, yellow eyes, and prominent ears. They are about the size of a medium collie dog, but their tail is round and bushy and is carried straight out below the level of their back. The throat and belly are light grey to white and a grey-black band runs down the mid-back. A shoulder saddle of black-tipped hairs is usually present. The tip of the tail is black.

Other things to look for: Coyotes have long legs and muzzles , a bushy tail, and long, pointed ears.

One of the most adaptable animals in the world, a coyote can change its breeding habits, diet , and social habits to survive in a wide variety of habitats . There are many examples in the neighborhoods of cities where they roam through yards stealing food left out for domestic pets or preying on the pets themselves. In the Los Angeles basin they are often seen in the channelized Los Angeles River .

The coyote's sense of smell is highly developed and is used to detect prey and carrion . It is also used to detect the scent left by other coyotes in the area. The coyote's hearing is very sensitive and is used for detecting prey and avoiding danger. Movement and position of the ears is used to communicate mood and rank. The color of a coyotes fur helps it camouflage it in its natural habitats.

Color:

The fur is buff or gray, with long, black-tipped hairs on the back and sides, and whitish, cream, or pale gray with yellowish tint on the belly. The face is can be gray or reddish brown.

Size/Age/Growth

Adult coyotes are 58-66 cm (23-26 in) tall and 105-132 cm (3 1/2 -4 1/3 ft ) long. They weigh 9-18 kg (20-40 lb ). Females are usually slightly larger than males.

Habitat

The Coyote is a nocturnal animal and is most active in early evening and again before dawn, but one is occasionally seen during daylight hours. It inhabits grasslands, forest edges , brushy areas, and upland and bottomland forests. Coyotes can survive in a variety of habitats , cold tundra , grasslands, forests, farms , woodlots, clearcut forest areas, and even urban areas.

Ecology: Coyotes utilize almost all available habitats including prairie, forest , desert, mountain and tropical ecosystems. The ability of coyotes to exploit human resources allows them to occupy urban areas. Water availability may limit Coyote distribution in some desert environments.

Coyotes are opportunistic , generalist predators that eat a variety of food items, typically consuming items in relation to changes in availability. Coyotes eat foods ranging from fruit and insects to large ungulates and livestock. Livestock and wild ungulates may often be represented in coyote stomachs and scats as carrion , but predation on large ungulates (native and domestic) does occur (Andelt 1987). Predation by Coyotes on neonates of native ungulates can be high during fawning (Andelt 1987). Coyotes in suburban areas are adept at exploiting human-made food resources and will readily consume dog food or other human-related items.[2].

List of Habitats:

Biology

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Diet

These animals track their prey using their excellent sense of smell, eyesight, and hearing. They stalk like a pointer dog for 20-30 minutes, freeze, and then pounce to make the kill. These members of the dog family are opportunistic in their diet , eating just about anything. Primarily carnivores , 90 percent of their preferred diet is small mammals such as mice, voles, shrews, rabbits, hares, squirrel, and sometimes poultry. In addition they also eat insects, fruits, berries , birds, frogs , snakes , plants , and seeds. Carrion from larger animals, especially deer, is an important food source in winter. While they usually hunt alone, small livestock such as sheep, goats, and calves are usually captured as an effort of group hunting and consumed by the group.

In urban areas, coyotes are attracted to garbage, garden vegetables, and pet foods. Given the opportunity, they also prey on unattended small dogs and cats.

Reproduction

Most breeding takes place in February and March between a bonded pair, which remain together until the pups are reared. Females give birth to 4 - 7 pups a little over two months after mating.

Pups are born to the alpha couple in late April or early May after a gestation period of 60-63 days. The female gives birth in a den modified or enlarged by adults , such as a hollow log , the abandoned burrow of another animal, or some natural shelter . Coyote pups are altricial, that is, born blind and helpless. About 10 days after birth, the pups eyes open. Youngsters emerge from the den at 2-3 weeks. While the alpha female cares for her pups, the other members of the pack care for her. They bring her food, babysit the young so she may go off on her own, and help move the pups from one den to another. A core area will frequently have several den sites, and pups may be moved several times a week. This is for safetys sake, should the den be discovered by a potential enemy, as well as to avoid parasites that often infest dens.[1]

Pups are weaned between 5-7 weeks but begin sampling solid food somewhat earlier. Mother and father coyote will regurgitate partially digested food for their growing family . Before long, pups accompany their parents and older siblings on hunting excursions. Young coyotes are highly vulnerable to natural and human-caused mortality . Less than half of all litter-mates live to complete their first year. In fall , the social organization of the pack undergoes an internal shuffle. Some of the pups disperse to become nomads , some stay on to become helpers (betas) for next springs pups, and previous betas may disperse to form packs of their own elsewhere.[1]

Pups are born in a den located in hollow logs, abandoned mammal burrows along brush-covered slopes , steep banks, and thickets, or under rock ledges and crevices. Pups nurse for the first 2 weeks after birth, and are attended by both parents. Parents begin to supplement nursing by regurgitating partly digested food. The pups begin to eat solid foods by 4 weeks of age, and are weaned by the time they are 5 - 7 weeks old. The den is abandoned by June or July and pups usually disperse from the family unit by November or December. Pups reach adult size by 9 months of age and are sexually mature by one year of age.

Behavior

Coyotes live singly, in pairs, or form loose-knit packs of non-breeding animals. Coyotes are not as likely to form packs like wolves. However, hunting can be done alone, in pairs, or as a family , depending on the prey . The coyote will sometimes form a partnership with the badger. The coyote will use its sense of smell to find a burrowed rodent, and then the badger uses its claws to dig it up. Both the coyote and the badger will share the victim.

They communicate in a variety of ways. The most well-known of these is the coyote's howl, a high pitched, yapping, barking howl that can be heard for miles . They also communicate with snarls, barks , growls, and whines. Each sound communicates a different feeling. Coyotes also use scent communication bye marking off their territorial boundaries with urine and feces which tells intruders that another coyote is living here and it are not welcome. Howling and barking are used to communicate the position or hunting success of an individual or to reinforce the social bonds of a pack. Estimates of home ranges for adult males vary from 20.7 - 41.4 km (8 - 16 mi ) and for females from 7.8 - 9.6 km (3 - 3.7 mi). The average life span of wild coyotes is 6 - 8 years, but some have lived up to 19 years in captivity.

Coyotes can run at a speed of 64 km/hr (40 mph)40 miles per hour and can easily leap a fence or wall that is 2.4 m (8 ft ) high

A wolfs home range is about twelve times larger than that of a coyote. A coyote packs home range may be as small as 2-3 square miles to 40-50 square miles. In the heart of this range lies the packs core area, a much smaller, more intensely guarded zone in which coyotes spend most of their time.[1]

Coyote scent marking is a way to keep tabs on their neighbors. Its also a method of keeping peace among predators who have learned that avoidance is better than confrontation. Coyotes communicate through scent marking through fecal and urine deposits and anal sac secretions. Coyotes have two anal musk glands , one on either side of the sphincter, that secrete a strong smelling, pasty liquid that acts as a personal identification for individual coyotes and, by extension , for packs. [1]

Coyote pairs are monogamous and devoted, living in unions that usually last a lifetime. A coyote pack is typically 3-8 animals. The nucleus of the pack is the mated pair, also known as the alpha pair, the dominant animals of the pack. Only the alpha pair may breed . Mating takes place in early February. There are usually two or more beta coyotes in the pack, young adults whose main role is to defend the packs territory and help look after the nursing mother and new pups . Betas are older siblings from the previous year who did not leave the pack when they reached young adulthood. Other siblings dispersed to become nomads (some permanently) or meet up with other dispersed coyotes of the opposite sex to eventually form new packs.[1]

Taxonomy

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Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 15-Aug-2007

Similar Species

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The Red Fox and the Gray Fox are both smaller in size and hold their tail out parallel to the ground when running. The Coyote holds its tail down when running.

Members of the genus Canis

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 30 species and subspecies in this genus:

C. adustus (Side-Striped Jackal) · C. adustus adustus (Side-Striped Jackal) · C. aureus (Asiatic Jackal) · C. aureus aureus (Golden Jackal) · C. latrans (American Jackal) · C. latrans clepticus (Coyote) · C. latrans latrans (Coyote) · C. lupis baileyi (Mexican Wolf) · C. lupus (Domestic Dog (Feral)) · C. lupus arctos (Arctic Wolf) · C. lupus baileyi (Mexican Gray Wolf) · C. lupus beothucus (Newfoundland Wolf) · C. lupus dingo (Dingo) · C. lupus familiaris (Dingo) · C. lupus hodophilax (Japanese Wolf) · C. lupus irremotus (Northern Rocky Mountains Wolf) · C. lupus ligoni (Alexander Archipelago Wolf) · C. lupus lupus (Domestic Dog) · C. lupus lycaon (Eastern Wolf) · C. lupus minor (Austro-Hungarian Wolf) · C. lupus mogollonensis (Southwestern Wolf) · C. lupus nubilus (Southern Gray Wolf) · C. lupus occidentalis (Northern Gray Wolf) · C. lupus pallipes (Gray Wolf) · C. lupus tundrorum (Gray Wolf) · C. lupus youngi (Southern Rocky Mountains Wolf) · C. mesomelas (Silver-Backed Jackal) · C. microtis (Indus River Dolphin) · C. rufus (Red Wolf) · C. simensis (Ethiopian Wolf)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal February 29, 2008:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. New Mexico Wildlife. New Mexico Department of Game and Fish Version of April 24, 2009. [back]
  2. Gese, E.M., Bekoff, M., Andelt,W., Carbyn, L. & Knowlton, F. 2008. Canis latrans. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 31 January 2012. [back]
Last Revised: 2012-05-02