| Home work!! From the Nebraska wild life pages: (http://www.ngpc.state.ne.us/wildlife/coyote.html
DESCRIPTION The coyote's name is derived from the Aztec word "coyotl".
It is a member of the dog family (canids) which includes wolves, dogs
and foxes, and resembles a small German Shepherd. Adults coyotes weigh
an average of 20 to 35 pounds, with males being about 4 pounds heavier
than females. Coyotes weighing over 50 pounds are more common in the northern
and northeastern portions of their range than elsewhere. An adult coyote
is four to five feet long from the tip of its nose to the tip of its tail.
In Nebraska, coyote pelts show a great variety of color and texture. Eastern
Nebraska coyotes generally have a coarse coat that is brownish gray to
buff in color, while coyotes from the Sandhills and Panhandle are much
lighter gray with dense, soft underfur. Coyote tracks are more elongated
than dog tracks and are about 1 Ih times as long as they are wide. Coyotes
have bushy black-tipped tails, broad, pointed, erect ears and yellow eyes.
They have relatively large brains, and exceptional senses of smell, sight
and hearing. Although coyotes avoid wolves and dogs under normal conditions,
they occasionally mate with them and create hybrid offspring that are
usually larger than a typical coyote. This usually happens where wolf
densities are low or on the edge of the coyote's range.
Distribution and abundance During the early 1800's, coyotes were
limited to the Great Plains and western regions of North America. Since
then, they have expanded their range north and east. This is primarily
the result of the eradication of wolves by humans and the coyote's ability
to adapt to various habitats, including living very close to human populations.
Coyotes in New England have hybridized with gray wolves and are generally
larger than western coyotes. Range expansion in the southeastern United
States has been aided by translocation for sport hunting. Coyotes are
generally more abundant in the Southwest and Midwest than in other regions
of North America In Nebraska, coyotes are more abundant in western Nebraska
and the Sandhills, regions where ranching predominates over crop farming.
Habitat and home Coyotes are extremely adaptable and live in a wide variety
of vegetative types, from grassland to northern boreal forest. Almost
any area that supports good populations of small prey will support coyotes.
As prey abundance increases, coyote abundance generally increases. Coyotes
require a minimum of shelter during most of the year. They usually simply
curl up in a concealed, protected spot, though they do use dens for whelping
and rearing pups. A coyote seldom digs its own den, instead, it uses natural
cavities or modifies abandoned woodchuck or badger dens. The female coyote
usually selects several den sites in concealed locations and moves her
litter if she is disturbed in one location. Habits The coyote is perhaps
the most vocal mammal in Nebraska. Its howling and yipping serves to communicate
with family members and to notify neighboring coyotes of its presence
in the area. Numerous displays and postures are used to show antagonism,
dominance and greetings.
Coyote densities have been reported as high as five animals per square
mile in the Southwest United States, but are more likely to be one to
two per square mile in Nebraska. Both parents help care for young and
may mate for life. Home ranges are usually occupied by mated pairs although
the male may move more extensively than the female. Coyotes are known
to form packs consisting of the adult pair and young from more than one
generation, although this seldom occurs in Nebraska. The size of the coyote's
range depends on population density and varies between eight and 12 square
miles. Where coyotes are numerous, their home ranges are small. A mated
pair defends its home range from adjacent pairs but is somewhat tolerant
of unmated transient coyotes that pass through the range. Unmated transient
coyotes move great distances and comprise up to 20 percent of the total
coyote population. A coyote marks his territory with scent by depositing
droppings and urine on the perimeter of the area. Coyotes may be active
and observed throughout the day, but are most active at dusk and dawn.
The daytime activity increases during breeding and pup rearing. Coyotes
hunt in areas where small prey are likely to occur. They rely on sight,
smell and sound to locate prey. Rabbits are typically flushed from cover
and chased down and mice are usually caught by the coyote pouncing upon
them with its front feet.
Foods Coyotes are opportunistic carnivores and take advantage
of seasonal changes in the abundance of food items. Rabbits, deer fawns,
various plants and assorted birds and invertebrates are important summer
food. Their winter diet emphasizes larger prey, such as deer (prey or
carrion), livestock carrion, rabbits and hares. Occasionally, an individual
coyote learns that sheep, lambs and calves are easy prey.
Reproduction Coyotes reproduce once a year. Pairs are formed
and breeding occurs in January-February. Coyotes are capable of breeding
at one year of age but do so infrequently. Most are two years old when
they breed for the first time. The percentage of females that breed is
dependent on food availability and coyote density. Pups are born nine
weeks after breeding occurs. The litter size depends on the age of the
mother and the amount of available prey in the area. A scarcity of prey
results in fewer females breeding and producing smaller litters. There
are usually four to seven pups in a litter under average conditions. The
pups join parents on hunting trips when they reach eight to 10 weeks of
age and they begin to disperse in the fall, but some pups may not leave
the family group for up to two years. When a pup leaves the family group
it usually relocates within five to 10 miles, but records show some have
traveled in excess of 300 miles.
Mortality As many as 50 to 70 percent of all juvenile coyotes
die before they reach adulthood. Those that become adults typically live
three to five years, and 30 to 50 percent of the adult population dies
each year. Under most conditions, human-related causes, including hunting,
trapping and vehicle collisions are responsible for most coyote mortality.
Coyotes compensate for that heavy harvest by breeding at younger ages
and having larger litters. More one-year-old females breed during periods
of heavy harvest and their litter size can rise to as many as 17 pups.
Sarcoptic mange occurs in coyote populations throughout Nebraska. Mange
outbreaks occasionally become severe and can seriously reduce coyote populations
over large areas for a number of years. Other important diseases and parasites
that effect coyotes include canine distemper, canine hepatitis and heartworm.
Surprisingly, rabies is not an important disease in coyotes, although
they are susceptible to that disease.
Importance Several million dollars worth of livestock losses
are annually attributed to coyote depredation nationwide and several million
dollars are spent trying to control those losses. In Nebraska, the coyote
is among the top three wildlife species that are responsible for depredation
complaints. Livestock losses are predominantly for sheep and young calves.
Attempts to control losses involve short-term coyote population reduction
and the removal of offending individuals by shooting, trapping, or poisoning.
Poisoning must be done only by trained professionals. Changes in animal
husbandry practices have proven effective in reducing losses to coyotes.
As Nebraska's dominant terrestrial predator, coyotes can influence the
abundance of their competitors. The abundance of coyotes is inversely
related to the abundance of red foxes and bobcats. When coyote numbers
increase, fox and bobcat numbers decrease and when coyote numbers decrease,
fox and bobcat numbers can increase. The coyote is an extremely cunning
animal that provides thousands of days of hunting and trapping recreation
each year. From 1941-89, 540,000 coyotes were harvested by fur trappers
and hunters. Harvest totals 1980-89 indicated an average annual harvest
of 20,900 coyotes, their pelts valued at $521,000.
Coyotes move east, make homes in Virginia...........Wednesday,
October 14, 1998
Nancy Jones, on a farm outside of Windsor, Va., spent much of the summer
watching coyotes grow, along with the cotton.
They first appeared in the spring, just after the cotton was planted,
Jones said. As the plants sprouted, so did the three pups whose parents
frolicked with them daily.
"We didn't know what they were at first," said Jones, whose family has
lived on the same 156-acre farm since the mid 1930s. "We watched them
through the kitchen window with binoculars. They didn't bother us, so
we didn't bother them. It was kind of fun watching them."
Coyotes have been anything but fun for Gates County, N.C., resident Harry
Tyler, who lives about six miles south of the Suffolk border.
"They're here, all right," said Tyler. "They're scroungy-looking things.
Coyotes have eaten just about all my chickens. I can't keep biddies. The
last thing I lost was a grown goose."
Mangy nuisances or intriguing visitors, coyotes are moving into the western
reaches of Hampton Roads. They're in Isle of Wight, they've been spotted
in Suffolk, and they're frequently seen in Gates County.
It's part of the animals' migration east, said Glenn Askins, regional
wildlife biologist with the state Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
With natural predators, like wolves, mostly gone in this state, coyotes
are expanding their habitat.
"They're extremely adaptive," he said. "They live very well close to
people."
The first time Nancy Jones and her husband saw the animals, they thought
it was a family of foxes. They knew that was wrong when their dog started
barking, she said, and the older animals barked back.
"Some nights, after dark, we'd go out and just listen for them," Jones
said.
And there's no mistaking a coyote's howl, Askins said.
"It's kind of a yodel, a high whistle," he said. "If they're trying to
pack up, one will yodel, and another will yodel back."
Jones hopes to see more of her coyote family once the cotton is harvested,
but other local farmers aren't so welcoming.
"They look like skinny, long-legged, mangy dogs," said William A. Gwaltney,
another farmer in the Windsor area. "If you're working in a field on a
tractor, they'll hang out at the edge of the field. But if you walk toward
them, they'll run."
Local game warden Jerry Barwick said he's heard about coyote sightings
in Isle of Wight for a couple of years. So far, they don't seem to have
created as much of a nuisance locally as they have in the western part
of the state, where coyotes are notorious for killing livestock.
Coyotes, natives of the U.S. plains, probably moved into Virginia sometime
in the early 1980s, Askins said. The first hint came from road kill and
hunters' reports.
"They're pretty much statewide now," he said. "People are beginning to
see them, and they're likely to see a lot more."
An adult coyote weighs about 30 to 35 pounds and can be anywhere from
brown to light gray to reddish in color. Jones said her resident coyotes
are a kind of buff color, with long, bushy tails tipped in black.
The howl, the bushy tail and pointed ears -- along with piercing yellow
eyes -- are ways to tell a coyote from a fox or a stray dog, wildlife
officials say.
As on the Jones farm, both parents help to raise the young. Litters vary
in size from about five pups to as many as 18. The size of the litter
and the frequency of mating often has to do with the availability of food.
Like wolves, coyotes usually mate for life, and it isn't unusual for the
young from one litter to see their younger brothers and sisters grow up.
Coyotes are adaptive to almost any environment, said Martin Lowney, state
director of the USDA department of wildlife services.
"They're good survivors
because they will eat anything," Lowney said. "Grasshoppers, blueberries,
fruits and vegetables, garbage, watermelon and cantaloupe.
"They could become a problem for melon growers. They'll bite each one
until they find one that's ripe. People will just have to adapt."
Cousin to the wolf and domestic dog, coyotes are wary and intelligent,
with a keen sense of smell and an insatiable curiosity.
They're likely in Suffolk, especially in the southern end of the city,
near the North Carolina line, Whaleyville residents say. Although the
coyote population is not one that's counted in the Great Dismal Swamp,
dead coyotes have been found on the outskirts of the swamp, a spokesperson
for the wildlife refuge said.
In attacks, coyotes typically bite the throat just behind the jaw.
Mike Poston, a member of the Gates County Hunt Club, killed one two years
ago while deer hunting and had the pelt made into a rug.
"Every time we see them, we try to kill them," Poston said. "They're
considered a nuisance animal. They're tough on livestock down here."Coyotes
are not protected by game regulations in either Virginia or North Carolina.
And coyotes aren't necessarily a threat to humans. Rabies isn't a prominent
disease in the breed, wildlife officials say."As far as personal health
and safety, they're nothing to worry about," Lowney said. "But people
who own cats might want to be a little cautious. Coyotes eat them. Cats
and small dogs. If you start to see chewed up ears and bitten off tails,
it could be coyotes."
Copyright 1998, Norfolk Virginian-Pilot
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