Rearing Up: A Belated Greeting?

06 Jun 2010 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in communication, coyote behavior

I was following behind a young coyote on a path when its sibling appeared in front of it. The coyote stopped and began foraging. There really was not any “greeting” that I could see. Each coyote foraged on the opposite side of the path, so they were not interfering with each other. Then, the one I had been following reared up — the other watched its face intently. Facial expressions communicate everything, but I could not see the face of the one rearing up. I think it involved a belated greeting, even though it occurred a full minute and a half after they had seen each other. Most greetings I have seen occur immediately. Then again, I’ve seen this same type of “twisting while rearing or jumping up” during coyote play — it could have been an invitation to play. But, yet again, maybe the coyote just wanted to get by?

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About My Site and Me: This website reflects my almost 20 years of intense, careful, and dedicated field-work — empirical observations — all photo-documented without interfering or changing coyotes’ behaviors. Be welcome here, enjoy, and learn! I am a self-taught naturalist and independent coyote researcher.

Coyotes reappeared in San Francisco in 2002 after many years of absence, and people are still in the dark about them. This site is to help bring light to their behavior and offer simple guidelines for easy coexistence.

My information comes from my own first-hand observations of our very own coyotes here in San Francisco. What I’m presenting to you is the reality of their everyday individual lives. They have not been studied or observed so thoroughly by anyone else. Mine is not generic information, nor second-hand.

Note that none of the coyotes I document and photograph is “anonymous” to me: I know (or knew) each one of them, and can tell you about their personalities, histories, and their family situations. There have been over 100 of them, distributed among over twenty families, all in San Francisco. Images and true stories have the power to raise awareness and change perspective.

Contact: Janet@coyoteyipps.com

© All information and photos in my postings come from my own original and first-hand documentation work which I am happy to share, with permission and with properly displayed credit: ©janetkessler/coyoteyipps.com.

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