Images speak louder than words. See for yourself! There are 65 slides — a long sequence. Mom mostly kept an eye on things as the young ones played. To note: exuberant smiling, tip of the tongue exposed, ears laid way back, wrestling with the winner on top, wrestling up on the hindlegs, chasing, stretching, yawning, rolling in smelly stuff, sniffing, watching dog walkers that didn’t see them, monitoring: the mom running to her pup’s defense — which turned out not to have been necessary, rubbing against a tree, teasing, looking up for crows, tails straight out or up, open muzzles over the other’s closed muzzle, a muzzle open onto the other’s back, annoyance, kissing apologies, nipping at legs, reaching out with a forearm, mounting, urinating on or immediately in back of mom (WHOA! Is this possession??). The mounting is performed by one coyote on both the male sibling — this is all in play — and the mother who always remained seated but seemed to allow this behavior in her pup until she got tired of it.
The playlist includes a mother and her two male pups who were born in the springtime of 2009. Of course, there is a lot more going on than playing: there is intense communication. Fighting never broke out because of the communication. The communication seemed to follow a pattern. A couple of times it seemed as if the playing was taken right to the limit of tolerance. I’m sure there was much more communication going on than what I was seeing, but I’ve noted a few things here.
I’ll give a couple of examples. 1) One coyote sniffed a spot on the ground, the second coyote joined in, the first narrowed its eyes and then bared its teeth in warning, the second seemingly communicated that no threat was intended by showing the tip of its tongue in a “semi-kiss”;
2) A coyote pup pursued the mom (look at his intense gaze — a gaze with intention), rubbing against her and watching her face for reactions, he then mounted her in a tight hug even though she stayed seated. She put up with this for a moment, then turned on him baring her teeth, but then both displayed the tips of their tongues, and he further apologized by extending his tongue even more and then actually kissing her;
3) Mom did not want to frolick with the pups — she kept her head low and her ears out to the sides “airplane ears” — but also the ears were back which could indicate anger. Notice that one of the pups reads her desires well: he studies her expressions and sticks out the tip of his tongue, then solicitously following her will. The other coyote reads her less well or really wants his way — she ends up baring her teeth at him in addition to having her ears back. He leaves her alone after marking her, or right in back of her (!!!);
4) This same persistent coyote pup headed over to his brother, probably trying to get him to play by opening his jaw onto his back and then mounting him. The second coyote was slow to react but didn’t particularly like this. He bent over to the side and bared his teeth while standing still, as the persistent one continued. Finally the second coyote stuck out the tip of his tongue solicitously, showing goodwill, and the two began to play.
Could the “tip-of-the-tongue” be an indicator of goodwill and non-aggression? These coyotes smiled as they played with their tongues either lolling out to the side of the mouth or held in. Playing consisted mostly of chasing and wrestling and folly.
