I’ve been told that grooming is hierarchical in coyote families. Not so! Here you have two buddies of equal stature taking turns in grooming and taking off ticks from each other. I’ve seen mothers groom their yearling pups, I’ve seen mothers groom their mates, I’ve seen males groom their youngsters and their mates, and I’ve seen youngsters groom each others and their parents. So it’s not about hierarchy. It’s about caring for one another, removing unhealthy ticks and about companionship.
I had been watching these two coyotes groom for several minutes before I decided to videotape them. You can see from the length of the video — over five minutes long — that this isn’t a perfunctory groom. These guys are really taking care of each other. Ticks are bad this year.
Coyote Yipps 
