January | 2016 | Coyote Yipps

Call Of The Wild — In MY Neighborhood?

25 Jan 2016 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in coexisting with coyotes, coyote behavior

2016-01-05 (1) If you live anywhere close to a park, you are bound to see a coyote on a road now and then, usually in the early morning or very late afternoon, and you are bound to hear them howling now and then, and the howling could be occurring right on your street, under your window, at midnight! Coyotes howl for any number of reasons, including to communicate. Coyotes will often howl when they are distressed, for instance, when they’ve been chased by a dog, or if one (usually a youngster) has lost contact with a parent. I’ve heard one go on for 40 minutes. Of course they also howl in response to sirens, just to join the chorus!

Coyotes trek through their territory every day during the evening hours. Their territories include the vast areas around their park, including open spaces between houses. What they are doing is searching for hunting areas and marking their territories. Marking their territories is how they keep other coyotes out of their territories — their population density is thus kept stable and low. Coyotes need generally about a square mile of territory per coyote to survive.

Almost always, there is only one resident coyote family in any particular urban park in San Francisco — large parks like the Presidio or Golden Gate Park may have more than one. Based on my observations over the last 9 years, I would say that the number of individuals in these families ranges on average between two and five coyotes, and is constantly in flux, up and down between these numbers. The higher number reflects pups who have not yet dispersed. Pups disperse anywhere from one to three years of age.

Know that coyotes pose virtually no threat to humans unless they are hand-fed or unless a dog owner gets between his dog and a coyote, which could result in a bite or scratch to the dog owner. Coyotes want to avoid humans. On the other hand, pets pose problems in coyote areas. Nevertheless, it’s easy to avoid mishaps with pets by following some simple guidelines. Coexistence is what is going on throughout the country in urban areas because it is easy and it works. Coexistence is about educating the public about what coyote behaviors they should be aware of, and giving simple guidelines to help it work.

Keep your beloved pets indoors at night and don’t allow them to roam free. Don’t leave any type of food out which might encourage a coyote to linger rather than just trek on. When in the park, please leash up if you see a coyote and walk away from it — and don’t allow your pet to chase coyotes. Remember that pupping season is coming up, and whether or not you’ll have pups in your specific park, coyotes become more protective of their space during this time if they are intruded upon by a dog. Please watch the all-in-one video presentation, “Coyotes As Neighbors” which can be found at the top of the Coyotecoexistence.com website page. If you have any questions, please contact me, Janet, or any of the folks at CCC at coyotecoexistence@gmail.com. Someone there will try to help with any concerns you have.

Carl Safina: “Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel”

11 Jan 2016 4 Comments

by yipps:janetkessler in Art and Culture, coyotes are not so different from us humans

Thank you, Carl Safina for, as a scientist, writing about what is so obvious to many of us who have come to know wild animals by spending hours observing them.

I’ve been studying coyotes for almost a decade now, and I see some pretty basic similarities between ourselves and our lives, and the lives of coyotes. They are immensely social, they mate for life, they have rivalries and joys, they tease each other, they play, they work together, they care for and take care of each other, both parents raise the young and spend a huge amount of time teaching them how to be successful in their environments, they show immense affection . . . and anger, they have agendas, they defend their turf, they have territories from which other coyotes are excluded. They even play tricks on each other. Each coyote has his/her own unique personality and characteristics and no two are alike. I, as Carl, have been delving into “WHO” these animals are — as a species and as individuals. Please read these reviews about Carl’s book, and then delve into the book itself!

Reviews:

Humans Aren’t Special: Carl Safina’s “Beyond Words” Delves Deep Into Animal Minds: http://www.popsci.com/humans-arent-special-carl-safinas-beyond-words-delves-deep-animal-minds

Carl Safina Makes A Case for Anthropomorphism. The marine biologist’s latest book uses science to show that animals, like people, have complex inner lives: https://www.audubon.org/news/carl-safina-makes-case-anthropomorphism

“I wanted to know what they were experiencing, and why to us they feel so compelling, and so-close. This time I allowed myself to ask them the question that for a scientist was forbidden fruit: Who are you?”

Weaving decades of field observations with exciting new discoveries about the brain, Carl Safina’s landmark book offers an intimate view of animal behavior to challenge the fixed boundary between humans and nonhuman animals. In Beyond Words, readers travel to Amboseli National Park in the threatened landscape of Kenya and witness struggling elephant families work out how to survive poaching and drought, then to Yellowstone National Park to observe wolves sort out the aftermath of one pack’s personal tragedy, and finally plunge into the astonishingly peaceful society of killer whales living in the crystalline waters of the Pacific Northwest.

Beyond Words brings forth powerful and illuminating insight into the unique personalities of animals through extraordinary stories of animal joy, grief, jealousy, anger, and love. The similarity between human and nonhuman consciousness, self-awareness, and empathy calls us to re-evaluate how we interact with animals. Wise, passionate, and eye-opening at every turn, Beyond Words is ultimately a graceful examination of humanity’s place in the world.

The Skies Are Finally Dumping Buckets of Water on San Francisco

06 Jan 2016 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote behavior, hunting

2015-12-21

We’ve just been through a four-year drought here in San Francisco, so the recent, incessant heavy rains are ever so welcome by everyone, including coyotes who know that gophers and voles are easier caught when they’ve been drowned out of their extensive underground tunnels.

Here’s a photo of a coyote in a field, comfortably sprawled out and waiting for a park straggler and his dog to depart so that he can begin his hunting. The dog was an older black Lab and, although this coyote and the dog have a respectful “stand off” relationship, the dog nevertheless barked his displeasure at seeing the coyote contentedly lying there in the field, and even approached within about 50 feet of the coyote. But the coyote just remained where he was, in the pouring rain, standing his ground, until the park visitors left. Folks don’t usually hang out in the pouring rain, and the coyote was counting on this.

As these last stragglers left the area, the coyote moved to a higher vantage point, where he remained until no one was in sight. He then got up and combed the field, back and forth, looking for gophers, and marking now and then. I, also, left because of the driving rain, so I was unable to count his hunting successes.

Several weeks later I spotted this same coyote during another downpour. He quickly and without much effort caught himself a full meal and then settled down to eat it — in the pouring rain. Notice the very drenched gopher he caught.

2016-01-05