Coyote Head Study

The much maligned coyote is the definitive survivor. Found in a variety of habitats, its diet consists of rabbits, rodents, carrion and occasionally, larger mammals, especially deer. Although ranchers have claimed major predation of their flocks, analysis has indicated that coyotes generally take the immature, aged or sick larger mammals.

In 1915, the U.S. initiated a large-scale program to control coyote populations. The favoured methods of elimination included trapping, poisoning, shooting from planes and killing the young within their dens. Often in excess of 100,000 coyotes per year were killed by these measures.

Coyotes are one of the fastest terrestrial animals in North America, capable of reaching speeds of 64 miles per hour. They have high reproductive potential and are cunning and adaptable. The coyote will sometimes form a mutually beneficial partnership with a badger, in which the two will actually hunt together. The coyote uses its keen sense of smell to locate burrowing rodents so that the badger can dig them up with his powerful claws. Both then share the prize.
It is no wonder that an animal so resourceful as the coyote not only has managed to survive, but that it has extended its territory. This is due in part to human intervention which included the clearing of forests and almost total elimination of the coyote's competition, the wolf.