Coyote Behavior 101 for Dog Owners: reposted
19 Apr 2024 Leave a comment
Coyote Yipps
Information and stories about San Francisco coyotes: behavior & personality, coexistence & outreach, by Janet Kessler: Unveiling first-hand just how savvy, social, sentient and singular coyotes really are!
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- UrbanCoyoteSquared: GALLERIES
- *FIRST: A Guidelines and Safety Box
- Introducing My Coyote Yipps Blog
- San Francisco as Habitat and Place
- Contents By Topic
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About My Site and Me: This website reflects my 17 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!
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. 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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Be Aware of Denning Sites
Zoom Talk: Coyotes in San Francisco: Population, Family Life, Stewardship
(A crash course in SF coyotes!)
October 18th Presentation at PHS/SPCA: Inside the Lives of Urban Coyotes
(Another crash course in coyotes generally!)
Instagram: Coyoteyipps
Accidents happen. I posted a nighttime infrared video of this fellow several months ago, shortly after his accident. Here he is today taken in crepuscular daylight. We saw him right after he lost his tail: the long tail cartilage was exposed through the open wound. I have no idea what happened, but he seems to have thoroughly healed. I’m not sure he misses it, but if he does, it would be more than anything for wrapping around himself for warmth when he sleeps or as a communication tool: holding it under himself when upset, or allowing it to sway back and forth when super happy. But he’s doing fine without it and plays as exuberantly as his brother who is still his best buddy.
On first sighting, you might think this is a yearling, or even Mom — he is exceptionally thin and tall. But this is rail-thin Dad, standing like a bean pole. Although variation in coyote body types aren’t as extensive as that of humans, they do exist, and along with unique personality traits, contribute to the individuality of each and every one. Don’t be fooled by your first sighting though. He in fact is not small — he just looks that way at a distance at first. And he’s as in-charge as any other dad around. BTW, this one is about 6 years old.
This lactating mother had her pups a few weeks ago, shortly after I posted a picture of her pregnant. The way she ravenously went after what she found in the garbage indicated to me that she is desperate for food. While lactating, a coyote’s need for calories skyrockets. There’s a conundrum here: feeding coyotes causes them to hang around waiting for more food: they end up mingling closer to people and pets where they become niusances and the potential for a negative interaction increases — it’s not a good idea to leave out food for them.
One year old brothers play using a vast repertoire of moves: these here might be considered ducking and boxer-like moves using forearms — anything that provokes a reaction and keeps the game going! Swipe for second photo.
When coyote youngsters play, they are always in Olympics training mode: all actions are performed to their fullest capacity and at blur speeds, and, of course, always in bad lighting! Here you see one leaping over the other in their excited play. The aim seems to always be, "gotcha" or "surprised ya -- ha, ha!"
Exuberant play — note the expressions! These are one-year-old brothers. More of the same coming!
You don’t have to look too hard to see that this mother coyote is lactating. Swipe for more revealing images of her. Most pups here in San Francisco were born the first week of April. Pups are kept hidden in the dens for these first six weeks of their lives and fed entirely on their mother’s milk. After that time, for the next little while, the gruel includes regurgitated food brought in by Dad or yearlings born the previous year. Yummy!
To the coyote, of course, the feather was simply a *thing* found, picked up, and soon dropped. Or maybe it was the leftovers of her last meal. But I wondered what finding a feather might symbolize for us humans who like attributing meaning and symbols. Some of our meanings are rational and logical, while others are more whimsical or belief-based, and just as potent because we want to believe in them. What I found was apt and pertinent regarding what we want for coyotes (from Quora):
My last posting was about what’s called *habituation*. In simple terms, “habituation is the process of becoming less sensitive to a stimulus after repeated exposure”. In urban areas, coyotes become less fearful, less reactive to omnipresent humans. Habituation is a natural and healthy process: a creature filters through everything in his/her environment for what is dangerous and what isn’t, ignoring what isn’t and focusing on what is.
Maybe seven people were on the putting green when this youngster trotted up and plopped himself down right in the middle of the 28 yard green area. Everyone stopped putting, some people took photos, and then most people continued at a different hole. Meanwhile, this yearling, with people all around him, stretched and looked around and scratched himself on the turf. A crow caught sight of him and started cawing angrily. The youngster watched the crow for a minute and then got up and slowly trotted off, with the crow in hot pursuit. Swipe for seven photos.
As moms are held up in their dens warming and feeding their newborn pups, dads are outside, guarding their dens ferociously these days! Don’t be fooled by his sleepy appearance: every single time a dog walked by over 100 feet away, he had his head up and his eye on them until they were out of sight! He became absolutely alert when they were around. I had to stand there in the distance before he opened his eyes for me even though he knew I was there . . . “Yea, yea, yea, I know you’re there”, he seemed to be saying. People don't offer the same concern as dogs in urban areas. Swipe for second photo.
This photo sequence actually continues from my last posting where Dad was reacting to his yearlings’ getting too rowdy at point blank range. In that photo he’s just saying, “cool it guys”. But in this photo sequence, he has taken the matter into his own hands more strongly and clamped down on son’s snout. It’s a disciplinary gesture by Dad. It will hurt if son tries to wiggle away, so son remains absolutely still and does not fight to get free.
Be A Coyote Ambassador!
INTRODUCTION PAGES
- Introducing My Coyote Yipps Blog
- Contents By Topic
- Raising Awareness
- Take A Short Coyote Survey
- San Francisco as Habitat and Place
- UrbanCoyoteSquared: GALLERIES
- Coyote Voicings: Howls, Yips, Barks, & More
- Bio
- *FIRST: A Guidelines and Safety Box
- My YouTube VIDEOS
- Territories & Population in SF
- SF Families to 7/22
- Coyote Eating Habits in SF: Gallery
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