This fellow watches as his sibling approaches with a dominance display: tail up, standing high, ears up, head up — taller than the other fellow. The other fellow remains lower and with his ears back before running off in an almost slinking manner: low posture, head down, ears back, tail down. Although there is definitely a hierarchy here, it is not the easy hierarchy that we see between the mother coyotes and her offspring. This one is a contentious one that may still be working itself out.
Deference Extracted
05 Jan 2011 Leave a comment
in coyote behavior, family interactions Tags: coyote dominance behavior