The coyote (Canis latrans) is found in an incredible variety of habitats, including open grasslands, brushy chaparral, broken forests, desert mountains and grasslands, and montane and alpine habitats. It is especially capable of adapting to areas disturbed and fragmented by human activity, as long as patches of cover and sufficient food remain available. Mature individual weights range from 8-20 kg for males and 7-18 kg for females, with the larger animals living in the more northerly habitats.

Home ranges vary in size from 8-80 sq km, depending on habitat conditions and food supplies. Coyotes can be found alone, in pairs, or in larger groups, but it generally is not as social as the wolf. Most studies indicate that the diet consists of about 90% mammalian flesh, mostly jack rabbits, other lagamorphs, and rodents. These small mammals are usually taken by stalking or pouncing. Larger animals, especially deer, are also eaten, usually in the form of carrion or as newborn fawns, although packs of coyotes may coordinate to hunt live mature animals. Coyotes are known to form “hunting partnerships” with badgers. The coyote’s keen sense of smell locates a population of burrowing rodents, and then the badger unearths them with its powerful claws. Both species then share in the proceeds. Coyotes are also known to rely heavily on vegetative material as a food source, especially at certain times of the year. In the semi-arid southwestern deserts, they frequently feed on the seed pods of mesquite bushes and the berries of juniper trees.

Mating usually takes place from January to March, and births occur in the spring. Average litter size is six, with a range of 2-12.

The coyote has substantially extended its range since the arrival of Europeans in North America, with the main expansion being eastward. Two main factors are believed to have caused this expansion, one being the creation of more favorable habitat through the breaking up of forests by settlement, and the second being the elimination of the wolf which probably competed with the coyote. In Yellowstone National Park, the reintroduction of the wolf has had a significant negative impact on the success of coyote populations.

Coyote control has been one of North America’s most controversial wildlife management issues. There is no doubt that predation has been a significant factor affecting domestic livestock, but the extent of the damage has been in doubt since the beginning of federal control programs. Today, instead of blanket eradication programs, control efforts are focused on eliminating specific problem animals.

Source: Nowak, R.M., ed. 1999. Walker’s Mammals of the World, Volume 1, Sixth

Edition. The Johns Hopkins University Press.