Learn to Love

Coyotes are complex, social creatures with a cultural history dating back to before white settlers colonized the United States

Kat Jercich

Feb 25·8 min read

As a kid growing up in Northern California, I was always aware of the fuzzy line between suburbia and the wilderness. The subdivision where my parents lived was only partially built; every time more construction started, rattlesnakes would turn up in driveways and backyards, trying to find a new home. Wild turkeys paraded around the streets in the morning as I waited for the bus. Bouncing on my friend’s trampoline one day, I made eye contact with two deer picking their way through the nearby blackberry brambles she had in lieu of a fence.

And, of course, there were the coyotes. My mom called them “KAH-yotes,” a holdover from her own childhood. With the windows open on summer nights, we could hear them singing. Sometimes we’d drive out to where the suburbs ended — it wasn’t far, my grandparents could get there on foot from their house — and sit in the car, listening to what sounded to me like sirens or hungry ghosts.

When I see them in Chicago, it feels like getting a postcard from a place that no longer exists.

So for me, coyotes have always meant home. When I see them in Chicago, it feels like getting a postcard from a place that no longer exists. The prairies we used to drive to in my hometown have mostly been turned into strip malls. This isn’t unique to the Sacramento area, of course — urban land area is expected to triple from 2000 to 2050. The sprawl hasn’t narrowed coyotes’ territory, though. On the contrary, actually: Coyotes, which historically lived in the western part of the country, have now been seen in every state except for Hawaii. They live in every major city in the United States and Canada. They’re some of the most common species of urban wildlife — which means they’re more likely to encounter humans than other predators are.

With those encounters comes, inevitably, bad press. Here in Chicago, coyotes made headlines in January when one bit a 6-year-old boy near the Lincoln Park Zoo, sparking fear and reports of sightings all over the city. (The coyote was later apprehended and will remain at a rehabilitation center.) Despite the fact that it was the first recorded coyote attack in the city in decades, a 2009 study found that Chicago-area homeowners perceived coyotes as the greatest threat, animal-wise, to “human and health and safety.” In more rural areas, coyotes are seen as “pests” that kill livestock or compete with hunters for wild game; the Trump administration last year reauthorized the Department of Agriculture’s use of “cyanide bombs” to target the species.

They can make about 12 different sounds to locate other coyotes, express what they’re feeling, to threaten others, or just because it feels good.

But coyotes are far more than their negative stereotypes. Rather, they’re complex, social creatures with a cultural history dating back to before white settlers colonized the United States — and their resilience and adaptability is worthy of respect.

Let’s start with some basic coyote facts. Although coyotes all belong to the same species, there are dozens of subspecies throughout the United States. This contributes to their range of appearances: Coyotes in higher altitudes tend to be more gray and black, whereas those at lower altitudes are reddish yellow or tawny. They also vary in size. Northern subspecies are on the bigger end, with researchers averaging them about 40 pounds, while southern subspecies are closer to 25 pounds. They can make about 12 different sounds to locate other coyotes, express what they’re feeling, to threaten others, or just because it feels good. They’re strongly monogamous and often stay in the same mated pair until one dies.

According to Dr. Marc Bekoff, professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, “Coyotes are extremely adaptable and can live alone, as mated pairs, or in packs that are often extended families and perhaps a few non-relatives. Youngsters can leave their parents, siblings, and littermates when they’re around nine months of age, but it often varies according to food supply — if there’s enough food, youngsters and adults may stay together for a long while.”

Speaking of food, coyotes eat…basically anything. “In scientific parlance, they’re generalists and opportunists,” says Bekoff.

This, notes Dr. Stewart Breck, a research wildlife biologist at the USDA National Wildlife Research Center, makes them well-suited to living in urban areas. Coyotes, which eat both plants and animals, “commonly prey on rabbits, squirrels, geese and small rodents, and likely play an important role in keeping the populations of these species in check.”

Despite the dozens of headlines whenever attacks do happen, Breck says, “Generally, coyotes do not pose much of a danger to people. Occasionally, a coyote becomes so bold that it bites a person, but this is likely because the coyote was fed by people or somehow learned to lose its fear of people.”

“Coyotes pose a greater danger to people’s dogs and cats. This is where I see the vast majority of conflicts between people and coyotes in urban areas,” Breck says.

And therein lies at least part of the rub when it comes to coyote-human relationships. As a kid, my grandpa used to tell me that a single coyote would lure a pet dog to their pack with the promise of mating with them. Then, presumably once the deed was done, the coyotes would surround the dog and eat it.

This is a truly weird thing to tell a child. However, Dr. Seth Magle, the director of the Urban Wildlife Institute, says there’s some truth to it. “I have witnessed urban coyotes using play behavior to attract off-leash dogs, who are then attacked. These incidents are very rare but they do happen, so it’s a good idea to keep your dogs on-leash and near you when there are coyotes in the area,” he says.

Still, he says, the fear and anger people have toward coyotes aren’t “useful or warranted” reactions. “Urban coyotes are by nature shy and reclusive, preferring to avoid us. While some may try to prey on the occasional housecat, for the most part they stay out of our way,” Magle says.

“There are things people can do to help avoid conflicts with coyotes. These include not feeding coyotes, feeding their pets indoors…walking their dog on a leash, and scaring coyotes that are too close or approach them or their pet,” Breck says.

It’s also useful, for me personally, to consider the difference in pet danger between wild animals — including coyotes — and human-created hazards, like poison or vehicles. Although reliable statistics are difficult to find, some veterinarians estimate that tens of thousands of dogs and cats are injured or killed by cars in the United States each year. It makes sense that people would fear coyotes, given the rhetoric surrounding them, but keeping your dog or cat away from cars should be a much bigger concern.

“When left alone, coyotes usually aren’t dangerous, but it’s best to stay away from them when you see them because you don’t know what they’ve experienced as individuals and it’s essential to respect who they are,” agrees Bekoff.

And there’s a lot to love about coyotes, too. They’re “intelligent and adaptable, which enables them to take advantage of fast-changing urban environments,” Magle says. “As one example, researchers have observed urban coyotes looking both ways before crossing streets.”

There are very few ecological disadvantages, Magle says, to them living in cities. Although some researchers, including Magle, suspect they may reduce the local populations of foxes, they also control the numbers of mice and squirrels.

“They are fascinating and intelligent animals and just when you think you have them figured out, they do something completely surprising.”

Plus, Bekoff says, they really are a blast to observe. “On the whole my students and I loved watching them and learning who they are as individuals, and how they went around their somewhat daily routines.”

“Watching pups and others play is just as much fun as watching dogs romping and zooming around with their friends,” he says.

“My favorite thing about studying coyotes is when I, the observer, become the one being observed by coyotes,” says Breck. “There is nothing like realizing that the coyote you’ve been trying to find and study has been watching you instead. They are fascinating and intelligent animals and just when you think you have them figured out, they do something completely surprising.”

“I’m pretty convinced that in urban environments they are able to judge individual people and figure out who is and is not a threat,” he adds.

When asked about the best ways to make suburbs and cities friendly to urban wildlife, Magle says, “This work is in its infancy but some things are clear — spaces with natural vegetation, corridors to allow for movement, and underpasses to avoid roads and traffic are a must.”

“On an urbanizing planet, the only way we can ensure that wildlife survive in the long-term is to think about how to make cities where people and animals can co-exist,” he continues.

When it comes to more rural environments, coyotes often are targeted to protect livestock and to safeguard deer and other wild game for hunters. However, some researchers say that’s not an effective strategy.

As conservation biologist Megan M. Draheim pointed out in The Conversation, reports of livestock death due to coyotes and other predators are often difficult to verify.

“Even experienced ranchers may have trouble determining in some cases whether a sheep was killed by a coyote or a dog (dogs are second only to coyotes in reported predation on livestock), or died from other causes and later was scavenged by coyotes,” she wrote.

Furthermore, killing them doesn’t actually make a difference. Draheim wrote that in 2006, a research biologist named Kim Murray Berger used statistical modeling to argue that killing coyotes and other predators was ineffective at preventing sheep loss. Other research shows that killing coyotes is not a good way to protect mule deer populations.

“The thing I’d tell people when they encounter wildlife is to value that experience. You don’t have to be afraid of things — just be respectful.”

Miles Falck, the wildlife section leader for the Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission — which represents 11 Ojibwe tribes in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan — notes that removing coyotes actually causes their reproduction rate to increase.

Falck, a wildlife biologist, says although people do hunt them for sport, the tribes that he works for would not condone that practice: “They don’t look at harvest as sport or recreation, it’s more of a subsistence activity and done with respect.”

Whether in cities or in more rural environments, Falck says, “The thing I’d tell people when they encounter wildlife is to value that experience. You don’t have to be afraid of things — just be respectful.”