COYOTE

The Coyote (Canis latrans) is a species of canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the Grey Wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related Eastern Wolf and Red Wolf. It fills much of the same ecological niche as the Golden Jackal does in Eurasia, though it is larger and more predatory and is sometimes called the American Jackal by zoologists. Other names for the species, largely historical, include the Prairie Wolf and the Brush Wolf.

The Coyote is listed as ‘least concern’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature due to its wide distribution and abundance throughout North America, southwards through Mexico and into Central America. The species is versatile, able to adapt to and expand into environments modified by humans. It is enlarging its range, with Coyotes moving into urban areas in the eastern USA and was sighted in eastern Panama for the first time in 2013.

The Coyote has 19 recognized subspecies. The average male weighs 8 kg to 20 kg (18 lb to 44 lb) and the average female 7 kg to 18 kg (15 lb to 40 lb). Their fur colour is predominantly light gray and red or fulvous interspersed with black and white, though it varies sometimes with the varying geography. It is highly flexible in social organization, living either in a family unit or in loosely knit packs of unrelated individuals. Primarily carnivorous, its diet consists mainly of deer, rabbits, hares, rodents, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish and invertebrates, though it can also survive on fruits and vegetables during crisis. Its characteristic vocalization is a howl made by solitary individuals. Humans are the coyote's greatest threat, followed by Cougars and Gray Wolves. In spite of this, Coyotes sometimes mate with Grey, Eastern or Red Wolves, producing "Coy Wolf" hybrids. In the northeastern regions of North America, the Eastern Coyote (a larger subspecies, though still smaller than Wolves) is the result of various historical and recent mating with various types of Wolves. Genetic studies show that most North American Wolves contain some level of Coyote DNA.