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!
These are Hamlin’s Coyote Ambassadors, sitting in front of their own coyote drawing.
These young students are working on helping to solve problems in their community. They were particularly interested in how humans and coyotes coexist and in coyotes in general. They went through my website and some articles about me and became fascinated by all I have done to advocate for coyotes. They are hoping to do the same! What a compliment! So they invited me to meet with them to help them learn, and to answer a few of their questions.
Their first-grade teacher at Hamlin, Brynne Levy, of course, is behind igniting their enthusiasm and getting them involved. I felt her inspiring guidance and encouragement to these kids throughout my visit with them.
We met in their school’s lobby which doubles up as a meeting area. These kids came well prepared! They each had written out their questions beforehand, and sometimes they added more questions inspired by our discussion.
They asked about dens, where the coyotes came from when they returned in 2002, why there had been no coyotes before then, and HOW they got here. They asked how I myself became so interested in them. I was asked about my most dangerous encounter: I explained that it’s not people, but dogs who pose, and are posed with, danger from a coyote. They already knew the best guideline for coexistence and how to handle a coyote encounter: leave them alone; go the other way. They understood the reasons behind this guideline, and not that it was simply a rule to be followed.
The kids asked about population size: there are 50 to 60 adult coyotes here on 17 territories. The total population ranges from about 80 to 100.
I was asked about the benefits of having coyotes around: although they get rid of rats, we decided that there doesn’t really have to be a BENEFIT beyond existing and being WHO they are. They are *enough*. We wondered what the benefits of humans are to the environment. Yikes!
And here is their interview write-up, which they’ve generously allowed me to post! Thank you, girls! I had a wonderful time meeting you, chatting, answering your questions. I know you’ll all make super Coyote Ambassadors!
Click on the pages above to enlarge them and scroll through them for easier reading.
By the way, among the interviews I’ve had, including The Guardian, The NYT, Sacramento Bee, KQED, SFGate, High Country News and more, this interview to date has been one of my most important: these young girls will be in charge in only a few short years. Go Coyote Ambassadors!!
This information, based on my own field observations, can’t be shared enough. We are smack in the middle of denning season. Please read and learn if you have a dog. This edited article based on what I’ve published before — again, based on what I have seen first-hand — was published in WildCare’s newsletter and on their website on May 9th to help get the information out to more folks. Click on the blue link below to read the article with additional photos. The yellow flyer at the bottom of the article summarizes concisely what you should know without going into the behavior details.
Golden Gate Park in San Francisco stretches about 3.5 miles in length and .5 miles in width, and occupies a space of about 1.5 square miles. Over the past five years, we’ve had as many as three coyote families using portions of the park — the westernmost tip of the park was actually a small extension of another territory, but doesn’t seem to be that anymore. Note that these families live on exclusively owned territories and keep other coyotes out, which is why it’s easy to know their territories.
For years, the Eastern Family occupied the territory from the eastern area of the park to all the way past Crossover Drive, while the Western Family kept to the very western part of the park. The territories, of course, extended far beyond the northern and southern boundaries of the park, deep into the surrounding neighborhoods which are patrolled and marked mostly at night, but the park area has been their main hub with their denning areas. The average urban coyote territory of 2.5 square miles is epitomized by the Presidio.
In 2022 the Eastern Family was actually a *double family*: both an alpha mother coyote AND her two-year-old daughter became pregnant and were nursing, and the families co-mingled, but just for one season. This situation was probably caused by the City’s killing of the alpha male in 2021. After that, a new male entered the picture and fathered pups to both the alpha female and her daughter. Maybe it’s because they were related that they all lived in harmony. The next year, in 2023, we were back to ONE family in the area with the daughter-turned-mother and her brother becoming the new alphas. The older alphas had disappeared: I’ve witnessed this almost *ceding* the territory to the younger generation a number of times, and the older pair then appear to disperse forever, never to be seen again, like any other dispersing yearling unable to claim a territory within the city.
The Eastern Family at the moment consists of four individuals: Mom, Dad, a one-year-old male yearling and a three-year-old male offspring who has not left yet. Mom and Dad produced a new litter of pups this year — I haven’t seen them yet, but Mom is lactating.
The Western Family consists of five adult-size individuals: Mom, Dad and three sons, aged one, two and three years of age. They too have produced a new litter of pups this year as evidenced by the lactating Mom. Last year this Western Family denned openly right off a field used by dogs. It was not a good situation for either dogs or coyotes. But, as they say, *practice makes perfect* and this family had a lot of practice running off dogs. This practice may have given them the confidence to close-in on the other coyote family — or maybe even vice versa!
In 2021 I had seen forays by the Western Family into the edges of the Eastern Territory at night. This *pushing the envelope* continued, with that Western Family now adding a 1/2 to 3/4ths mile section of the park to their territory, taken over from the Eastern Family.
What’s interesting is that the Western family now travels as a large family unit — 3 to 5 of them together most of the time. I’m wondering if the sheer nightly appearance of this group is what has allowed their slow encroachment east.
In short, we have two coyote families in Golden Gate Park, with one seemingly interested in claiming more of the other’s, if not the whole park. The Eastern Family, on the other hand, is hanging on to what they inherited from their parents — they did not fight for their territory, whereas I believe the Western Family displaced the last family in the West about 5 years ago — the few photos I took of that family do not resemble anyone in the current family. As I’ve pointed out before, there are uncanny family resemblances in coyote nuclear families that have helped me make associations between them.
Here are some very general photos from throughout the park: Dog issues. Hunting, eating, sleeping, howling and thirst quenching: major coyote occupations! Some other wildlife. Human food is everywhere.
Kinky Tail’s ongoing saga continues! Her story has been followed by Lou since she was born, and posted on this blog, all of which can be accessed by typing *Kinky* into the search box.
Hello Janet,
We are well into the explosions of spring, and pup season. Kinky Tail, who is well known to us, had her pups initially in an abandoned collapsed barn.
She has moved her pups at least 3 times, and is now on crest of a high hill.
She, her mate and year-long son helped move NINE pups. 9.
It’s hard to imagine such a tiny body housing 9 pups. Kinky Tail is very petite. I don’t think she has ever reached 30lbs.
Her observers have noted…the litter are also all tiny in size. Hence the Litter name Pip Squeaks.
Also..each move was to an abandoned barn. Kinky this year preferred empty buildings in the early stages.
Her move to high hillside gives her every advantage. She and her fam can see hear and smell for miles. The foothills contains tiny springs. Seeps of life come dry season. The open foothills contain thousands of voles and gophers. And soon untold grasshoppers and berries.
Her scene to the east is where Cascade begins and merge with foothills. The local pack of wolves leave these cascades to follow elk and deer into foothills.
It was these territorial forays that wiped out her early family pack and we suspect multiple coyote.
So in response..it seems..Kinky tail is adding empty barns and high hill areas to raise her pups. She has sanctuary here. The owners allow no coyote hunting or trapping. Her lineage to this land goes back generations. She has always known of patrolling wolf pack’s coming thru.
Biologically and Behaviorally her response to her life would be….
Utilise The Areas Wolves Don’t.
Like Empty Barns.
Keep Moving and Use Hills.
Have a big litter of pip squeaks.
Zig Zag all over and never be predictable.
Kinky Tail, Tired Mate, and Yearling Son are doing very well with 9 very tiny but chubby pip squeaks.
This information was sent to me with big questions: WHY did it happen? No one I have spoken to ever heard of such behavior. In fact, the only expert that might have come across this kind of behavior, Walkaboutlou, whose many articles have been posted in this blog, was as baffled by the story as the rest of us. His input is as follows:
Hi Janet,
That is something I could only guess at without knowing absolutely for sure the background.
Dogs, coyote, and wolves out here have all killed strange pups. It does happen. I’ve never experienced a family pack kill their own pups. Perhaps there are dual litters and there was a rare intra-inner dynamic that led to this. Within a family group this is extremely strange. Illness could play factor though I doubt it. The pup being dispatched looked very much like a territorial killing of stranger. The wolves and coyote here have done it … again to pups of other packs, as have dogs.
I’ve never seen siblings attack younger pups. Even if overwhelmed with feeding pressures … the adults might stop feeding certain pups or outright leave them to own device … but to kill a sibling … I’ve not ever had a hint of it.
So much goes on we don’t know. I feel somehow those were pups of another litter, or they somehow someway stopped being a member. Or … the adults became aberrant.
I’ve found that usually … coyote packs are extremely devoted to each other and especially pups.
So this makes it all the more a shock.
Thx for sharing. The next few months of the remaining pups … would be interesting to see.
Lou
After we learned that there had been a fight between adults in the family, Lou offered further insight:
Hi Janet … yes indeed. Under “aberrant” adult behaviors displaced aggression is plausible. Though I’ve never seen it in a true fam pack taken that far. I have seen some terrific fights among ranch packs or LGD packs where social tensions and up on youngsters.
Also … youngsters that physically are imbued with scent of a [foreign coyote] can be at risk. There have been wolf pups that meandered to stranger pack … but innocently merged with other pack’s pups. The other pack..accepted the questionable but newly scent anointed pup.
Conversely, pups whose Father was wolf non grata (he fathered pups but not a member) would have his scent on them when he snuck visits. Babysitters quick to scene would sniff over the pups … rather angrily … but not hurt pups.
Sometimes instincts go awry or behaviors go abnormal without true explanation.
Undoubtedly fighting and some sort of trigger made those pups no longer protected. Very bizzare. But it happens.
Thx again,
Lou
VIDEO of the EVENTS
Caption First Killing:The first graphic photo in the video is of the first pup killed, a female. She was already dead with Daddy circling around her body and eventually he carried her into the area where they typically bed down. She was ripped apart. Caption Second Killing:Then shortly thereafter, the 2nd attack on a male pup was witnessed. His body was not mutilated and was left where he died while Dad bedded down nearby. A couple of hours later, the second carcass had been moved.
Caption: The second yearling runs off after a fight with his brother — this was right before the second killing; Dad calm and relaxing as he guards the den area after the killing events
Background & Intro, May 9th:
We’re hoping you might be able to shed some light on a situation we’re having right now. We have a bonded coyote pair living on the field and they recently had 10 healthy pups. Also included with this family are two of the yearlings from last year’s litter. Everything has been fine for the last 6 to 8 weeks. But this morning two of the pups were killed by the pack. One of us was on site when it happened and took footage. And we’re wondering if you know anything about this. The killings happened within an hour of each other. One pup was completely guided and then taken back into the spring area by the dad. The second pup was killed by the yearling while Dad and Mom were in sight. We’re wondering if there’s some outlying thing that’s causing this or if there’s anything that could prevent further killing of the pups.
This is the second litter we have monitored from this alpha pair. They had pups that contracted mange last year: we were able to successfully treat that litter.
This year’s pups all appear healthy, no mange. We have cameras on the den and only saw one nursing female — Mom — go in and out: the ten pups were not a case of den sharing.
The field is an overgrown abandoned one where wildlife can live. There are transients humans that go through the area and do scare the coyotes: last night two adult men were in the spring area and only four pups were seen later that evening. Might this have created/contributed to the situation? Not really sure.
Would appreciate any of your insight to the situation.
Sequence of Events:
First Killing:
Hi Janet,
Thanks for helping us try and figure the coyote situation out. Very bizarre behavior. When I saw the first pup carcass, a female, Dad was standing over her body. When I got out there it was Dad who ended up taking the carcass into their den area in the bushes — an area where the family has been staying the past two weeks. We didn’t see this first killing.
I think there was an important piece to the puzzle that wasn’t shared with you yesterday. I apologize. Before the yearling attacked the male pup [the second killing], there had been a fight that took place between two coyotes. It was over in the area near the den, not far from where the attack happened. I saw it from afar and headed over to check out what was going on. By the time I got over to the coyotes, the fight had ended. One of the coyotes took off down the trail and didn’t come back while the other, who I suspect is the yearling, hung around with Dad, who was also at the fight scene. That was about a half hour before the male pup was attacked. I’m attaching footage of the coyotes after the fight. [second video]
Second Killing:
Then about a half hour later an attack on the male pup by the yearlings took place, the yearling I call Sitter. I’m 90% certain it’s him. There was a second adult watching it — Dad — and a third — Mom — that came out of their den area to see what was going on but neither of those adults intervened. Mom soon went back to the den area.
Footage of the second part of the attack can be seen in the attached video.
After the attacks:
After the attack I went over to the area. The yearling moved off but Dad hung around, as you saw in the footage. Dad was kicking up dirt at me not the yearling.
I went back out about a half hour later and the carcass was still there with Dad nearby — 20 yards away keeping watch over it — also in the footage. He was annoyed with my presence and settled back down near the pup after I left. He wasn’t too pleased with me checking in on the carcass but didn’t show signs of aggression, just annoyed I was there. I went back by a few hours after that and the carcass was gone. Dad was bedded down under a tree near the den area, panting heavily.
A surviving pupDad guarding at the scene, after the events
The only other coyote killing of its own species that I, Janet, know of, which occurred here in San Francisco, involved two full-grown coyotes pursuing a third full-grown coyotes for several days in a row. Then the body of that pursued coyote was found on the street, not hit by a car, but with its jugular torn out. I don’t know if the victim was an outsider or a brother. I know that male yearlings, when they come of age, develop intense antipathy for each other: the fights are severe and usually cause for the underling/s to flee the area for good. I was able to record such a fight back in Sibling Best Friends Become Arch Enemies: https://coyoteyipps.com/2018/08/09/sibling-best-friends-become-arch-enemies/
Other postings involving intra-family fighting — always full grown coyotes:
One of the coyotes I’ve been keeping track of since his birth five years ago is Sparks. I watched him grow up and form strong bonds with his siblings, especially with his sister, Cat. Sparks was prone to leg injuries, and Cat would worry about him and take care of him — her anxiety for him when she felt he was in trouble or pain was immensely palpable.
Sparks was born in 2019: he’s now five years old.
Sparks dispersed from his birthplace when he was one year old — WITH Cat. She returned home after a few weeks, but for Sparks, it was a final breakaway from his birthplace. He endured numerous leg traumas continuing into his dispersal — life is not safe or easy for dispersing youngsters. After one of his leg injuries, he was harbored by the North Beach coyote family in their territory for several weeks, showing that not all dispersing youngsters are treated brutally by foreign territorial owners! Then a bone in his arm was snapped in two — he could not have continued had not Good Samaritans nursed him through that injury. After a six week recovery period, he returned to one of the territories he had passed through months earlier where he noted a vacancy — the previous alpha male was no longer around. Sparks was accepted by the reigning alpha female and he moved in, becoming the alpha male of that territory where he continues today.
I don’t spend much time with this family, so this update comes from just 2 weeks of observations on my part and from a general outline from my previous observations. The family at this point in time consists of Sparks who is the alpha male and dad, Wired is the alpha female and mother, and two male yearlings I identify by Spider and Cricket: these are all that survive from a litter of five born last year.
Wired was collared and tagged on January 5, 2019. She was at least 2 years old at the time, maybe older, making her 7 to 9 years old now.
Wired appears to have gone through some kind of trauma at the end of last year/beginning of this year: her entire pattern and routine changed totally according to everyone I spoke to. People stopped seeing her, whereas before this, they had been seeing her regularly for years. SOMETHING happened: SOMETHING is always behind a big change in behavior. I’m wondering what happened — if a person was involved which might have caused her to withdraw from view and become more self-guarded: this is just a guess of mine. Whatever the cause, there was a big and noticeable change in her behavior at the beginning of the year.
I had trouble finding her, and I even thought she might no longer be around since only one person I knew had seen her in two weeks, but I finally spotted her briefly. She’s thriving and actually lactating. She had her pups at the beginning of April. After giving birth, mother coyotes often appear to *celebrate* giving birth when they emerge from their dens and play wildly with their mates, almost as if to say, “well, I did it!” Although I didn’t see the energetic celebration, a friend of mine saw it on April 13th. By the next day, she was denned up again with her pups and no one I know had seen her since then until I saw her a couple of days ago, when I found her relaxed and napping in the warm sunshine.
Mom, aka Wired, herself had a previous life which was on the wild side. She first appeared in the area at the end of 2018 and was immediately tagged and radio-collared on January 5, 2019: she was trapped and restrained manually by a human while the tags and collar were being attached. When I first came across her shortly thereafter, she was still trying to get rid of the collar — shaking to get it off and scratching at it — and her distrustful, angry *look* at all humans made me think that the manhandling she had been through had affected her pretty badly. The collar itself — used for tracking her — was supposed to self-release after a year for humane reasons, but it malfunctioned and is still on her today, after five years, even though it stopped working after a year. The collar allowed scientists to track her criss-crossings throughout the city for several months as she searched for a territory and a mate. Once she settled into her current situation, she stopped wandering, she sticks to her territory which has fairly exact boundaries, and she keeps all other coyotes out: this is what coyote territoriality is about.
First mate Puff on March 9, 2020
In a territorial takeover fight, Wired ferociously battled the previous female alpha owner of the territory which she (Wired) now owns — even drawing blood. The previous female had lost her mate (he disappeared, but I don’t know what happened to him — possibly he succumbed to old age — they had been long-time alphas there) and was aging: she could not defend her territory alone. By the 2020 pupping season, Wired and her mate at the time, Puff, where the alphas of this territory. But before this, in the early part of 2019, Wired fought — again drawing blood — for another female coyote’s territory AND for that female’s mate. That story can be found here, and with updates which can be found by putting *Scout* into the search box. *Scout* is the name of the female Wired battled in 2019: Scout’s story is even documented in a film, “don’t feed the coyotes” and will be coming out in a book soon! So, that is Wired’s story.
Yearling Spider interacts with Sparks (Dad)
As for Sparks, I’ve seen him recently hunting alone, or patrolling in the company of his two surviving yearling sons. Above is a series of photos of him being Dad with one of his sons: notice his son, Spider, always remaining lower than his father. Hierarchy is very important in nuclear coyote families, with Mom and Dad always at the top and in charge.
Five pups were born last year. Of those, the only ones we’re seeing are the two rambunctious male brothers seen above, Spider and Cricket, though a female without an eye might still be around: compromised individuals tend to be more guarded in their visibility, which is understandable.
Sparks and Wired at this point in time have two surviving sons who were born last year. Above you can see how they let go and play wholeheartedly with each other. Play, of course, helps them grow by developing speed and precision, and by refining communication subtleties. However, beware that they are neither wary nor flighty, as one might expect from yearlings, but rather brave around dogs and even uppity around humans on a golf course: they approach dogs to drive them away (this is normal denning behavior which even the yearlings engage in) or to test the dogs to find out what their energy is for pushback.
Below you can read more about this plucky behavior of theirs in a couple of my Instagram postings: click on the links below the following photo to read more, including about their *claiming* behavior.
Click HERE and HERE for two relevant Instagram postings about these youngsters
This next photo below shows that yearlings are worth their weight in gold to their parents. In addition to helping with defending the territory against dogs (which creates problems for dog owners; please vigilantly supervise especially your small dogs, as several small dogs have been grabbed as part of their natural territorial behavior which is intensified during pupping season), this youngster is bringing in a huge gopher to help feed his Mother who has recently given birth to a new litter. Nutritional needs of the mother, of course, skyrockets at this time of year while she produces milk to feed the new litter — we don’t yet know the size of this year’s litter.
For my Summer, 2023 update on Sparks, press HERE. Putting his name, *Sparks* into the blog search box will bring up additional previous updates.
Yearling brings in a gopher to help feed his mom who is nursing his younger siblings
About My Site and Me: This website reflects my almost 20 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! I am a self-taught naturalist and independent coyote researcher.
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. What I’m presenting to you is the reality of their everyday individual lives. 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.
