Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
17
Wile E. Indeed: The Coyote
MYTHS
The eastern coyote is nearly as large as a wolf.
Those animals out there are coydogs.
Coyotes mainly hunt in packs.
MOST AMERICANS ARE FAMILIAR WITH ROADRUNNER CARTOONS IN WHICH THE
HUNGRY COYOTE, WILE E. COYOTE BY NAME, IS FOREVER STYMIED BY THE CLEVER
ROADRUNNER, AN ADVERSARY THAT IT SEEKS TO CONVERT TO THE COYOTE
VERSION OF KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN. At every turn, the hapless coyote is battered, beaten,
and outwitted, going hungry despite his best efforts.
The reality is quite the opposite, for the coyote
(Canis latrans)
is Wile E. indeed! It's a survivor
par
excellence,
able to overcome all efforts to eliminate it and to thrive where most other animals could
barely exist. This clever, wary, versatile predator, once regarded as primarily a creature of the West, has
not only survived all attempts to exterminate it, but has blithely expanded its range all the way to the
East Coast in recent years.
The coyote's name, incidentally, comes to us through Spanish from the Nahuatl word
coyotl.
(Nahuatl was the language of the Aztecs and certain other Indian groups.) Westerners usually pro-
nounce its name
kai o ti,
while Easterners mostly opt for
kai ote.
Coyotes are nearly as controversial as wolves, able to polarize opinions as few other creatures can.
It's the feeding habits of coyotes that make them so controversial, bringing a deluge of both opprobrium
and encomium upon their furry pates.
To many sheep growers and some human hunters, they're the devil incarnate, wanton, depraved
killers, the destroyers of valuable sheep, small game, and deer. To others they're God's Dog (a term ori-
ginally coined by Native Americans), a nearly sainted creature that kills only the old, the weak, and the
sick, thereby maintaining the genetic health of the prey species. As a result, attitudes toward the coyote
range from those wanting to kill none of the coyotes all of the time, through those wanting to kill some
