Coyote

The coyote (Canis latrans) is a species of canine native to North America, also known as the American jackal, prairie wolf, and brush wolf. It is smaller than the gray wolf and slightly smaller than the eastern wolf and red wolf, filling a similar ecological niche to the golden jackal in Eurasia. Listed as least concern by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, the coyote is highly adaptable and has expanded into human-modified environments, including urban areas. The species has 19 recognized subspecies, with size varying geographically; northern subspecies tend to be larger than those in Mexico. Males average a certain weight, and females are slightly lighter, with total length ranging from nose to tail, including a tail of a specific length. The largest recorded coyote was a male killed in Wyoming. Fur color is predominantly light gray and red or fulvous, interspersed with black and white, though high-elevation coyotes have more black and gray, while desert-dwelling ones are more fulvous or whitish-gray. Northern subspecies have longer, denser fur, while some Mexican and Central American forms have bristly hair. Albinism is extremely rare. The coyote has longer ears and a larger braincase relative to its body than the gray wolf, with a thinner frame and muzzle, and it carries its tail downward when moving. Its tracks are more elongated and less rounded than those of dogs. The coyote is primarily carnivorous, eating deer, rabbits, rodents, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and invertebrates, along with occasional fruits and vegetables. It is highly flexible in social organization, living in family units or loose packs. Its howl changes rapidly in tone and pitch. Humans are its greatest threat, followed by cougars and gray wolves. Coyotes interbreed with eastern and red wolves, producing coywolf hybrids, and most North American wolves contain some coyote DNA. Historically confined to western plains and arid regions before European colonization, the coyote was first scientifically described by Thomas Say in 1819. It is a prominent trickster figure in Native American folklore, especially in Aridoamerica, and was respected in Mesoamerican cosmology as a symbol of military might. In Anglo-American culture, it has been viewed negatively.