“Something must be hiding in here which might be good to eat or fun to play with.” The stump was explored, but nothing of interest was found.
Wanting To Play; Getting Bullied
26 Dec 2010 Leave a comment
in coyote behavior, family interactions, hierarchy, playing Tags: coyote family behavior
One of these two young coyotes found an abandoned dog’s ball and picked it up to play with it. Bullying brother came over and knocked the coyote over for the sole purpose of showing him who was boss, and then hovered over him menacingly. When the bully became momentarily distracted, the more subservient coyote was able to run off. This kind of behavior happens regularly these days and serves as a constant reminder and confirmation of a ranking status which has to become accepted by both coyotes. These photos were taken at the beginning of November when there were still attempts by the more subservient coyote to interact with his sibling.
The Stick Finder & The Stick Snitcher
26 Nov 2010 Leave a comment
in coyote behavior, family interactions, hierarchy, playing
Here, one fellow finds a stick and begins having fun with it: tugging at it and chewing on it. But a second guy comes up and wants that very same stick.
The first guy repels the second guy’s attempts to take it with a growl. However, the second guy doesn’t give up and tries to weight down the first guy and then he tries a frontal approach again, both unsuccessfully. Finally he tries the ultimate put-down: he mounts the first fellow who then moves to get away from the tight grasp.
Seeing that the stick is no longer his, the first guy resigns and moves off some distance to watch. Not to be totally defeated, he returns and grabs a different stick to pull on. Ohhhh, but now fellow #2 actually wants THIS particular stick and goes for it.
Fellow number one snarls angrily, but it is fellow two, who at this stage is succeeding in showing himself to be the more dominant of the two, now has the second stick.
So, the fun is over for the time being.
Back When Play Began Turning Into Bullying
26 Nov 2010 Leave a comment
in coyote behavior, dominant vs. submissive, hierarchy, playing
The two siblings in this coyote family used to play evenhandedly — this is not so now. In the first slide, as one of the siblings begins to dominate the other, Mom snarls her discontent at them and moves away from them. Notice that one sibling continually goes after the other one to dominate by pushing him, mounting him or forcing him to the ground — it is always the same one that does this. In the end, the dominated runs off from his tormentor, almost always with ears back, tail under and back arched. These photos were taken at the beginning of October — about when I started noticing this one-sided pattern to sibling interactions.
Chasing Game — On One’s Own Terms
18 Nov 2010 Leave a comment
in coyote behavior, family interactions, group activity, playing
I was watching as three coyotes appeared on the horizon and remained there. The activity was minor. Suddenly, one of them shot down the hill in a frenzy — as if he might have flipped out — there was a swishing sound and suddenly he was down at the bottom of the hill. The others gazed at him seemingly dumbfounded — probably as dumbfounded as I myself felt. What the heck was going on? Then this coyote raced up the hill again with great exuberance and pure gusto. He just wanted to play! His frenzied activity worked. Invitations to play lately have been met with cruel put downs by his sibling. This time, he ran in, but didn’t give the other guy a chance to dominate him. It was almost a dare. This fellow whizzed by his dominating sibling, and the dominating fellow felt compelled to go after him. Ah! The long awaited game finally was happening. Mom got excited and joined in. And less-dominant guy led the whole thing, smiling exuberantly as he did so!! Finally, out of breath, the two followers ascended to the top of the hill, still with their full attention on this guy, and he, the force behind the show, remained below, panting hard but obviously happy. He had had his game! The chase game lasted less than two minutes.
Play Wrestling: Only A Short Time Ago
18 Nov 2010 Leave a comment
in coyote behavior, family interactions, playing
These photos, too, as in the last posting, were taken at the end of September. Notice Mom is off to the side keeping an eye on things — a behavior I have seen frequently with her. I have not seen this kind of bantering for some time now, though only yesterday I did see a wonderful game of “chase” — initiated by low man on the totem pole. Chase can still be played because, after all, you keep out of the grasp of the other fellow who likes to bully you!
These playful behaviors may pick up again after the hierarchy has firmed up — we will see!
“Playing Pine Cone”
17 Nov 2010 Leave a comment
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- watching
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- grabbing pine cone
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- off with pine cone
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- watching again
I am writing about this activity again because I’ve seen it yet again, in almost the exact pattern as before. My friend who tosses pine cones for his dog to fetch calls it “playing pine cone.” He plays this regularly, just he and the dog and the pine cones. However, if a particular coyote passes close by at the time, the coyote has been responding in what now has become his own predictable way. It is always the same coyote.
The coyote stops and watches — he seems to want to join in the play. Pine cones are tossed, and occasionally a pine cone rolls too far, so the dog just picks up one that is lying closer and brings that one back to its owner. This is the chance the coyote takes to dart in and grab the pine cone that had rolled too far! He runs off with it — not too far — to where I’ve seen him attempt to toss it up or play with it very briefly, but then, instead of continuing his own game, he stands back and watches the dog-owner activity some more until the game he happened upon is over and the dog and owner depart! The coyote then slowly continues to where he had been headed before his attention had been diverted.
The Case Of The Squeaky Ball
15 Nov 2010 Leave a comment
in coyote behavior, coyotes and dogs, following, playing
In this case, we wondered about a coyote’s extreme interest in a dog walking along with its owner. The dog was leashed and a coyote was following, at a safe distance, but definitely following them. When the owner stopped to talk to me, so did the coyote, coming in even closer and eyeing the dog intently but keeping safely off to the side.
The dog had a ball in its mouth which it put down and, puppy-like, assumed a rear-end-up and front-part-down playful position as it toyed with the ball. The ball squeaked which added to its appeal. All the while, the coyote kept eyeing the dog intently. We wondered about the coyote’s interest until the woman told me that the ball had been picked up by her dog in the park a few hundred feet back. Aha! Finally it made sense that the ball may have been a toy the coyote had used and considered as his own!
The coyote’s attention had probably been drawn to the dog’s squeaking the ball as the dog and owner walked along the pathway. Suddenly the coyote’s behavior made total sense — and it was very interesting! The coyote is a “teenager” and one who still enjoys “playing” with objects he finds in the park. I’ve seen coyotes play with objects and then “mark” them before leaving the toy behind.
The woman’s loyalty was to her dog, so she was not going to toss the ball out to the coyote. Instead she pocketed the ball and went on walking. The ball, no longer visible, disappeared from the consciousness of both dog and coyote! The dog went with its owner, and the coyote went now in a different direction.
I have seen coyotes often stop to observe another dog that is playing by itself with a stick or a pinecone — usually chewing these things with lots of gusto. This kind of situation — calm play — has lots of allure for young coyotes — they are curious and can relate to it — and I always get the impression that they would like to participate. They never do actually participate when the dog is there, but after the dog leaves, they often “try it out” for themselves!
More Play and Dominance
10 Nov 2010 Leave a comment
in coyote behavior, dominant vs. submissive, family interactions, playing
In this sequence a coyote plays with both the core and the shell of a golfball. The core is more highly prized because it has a better consistency: it is rubbery and therefore more fun to chew and some of the rubber bands which make it up actually “flick” the coyote back, making it appear to be alive. I’ve described this in a previous posting.
So here you have a coyote playing contentedly with the inner core of a golfball, the shell is nearby — until the coyote’s dominating sibling appears. The dominating sibling shows his dominance by standing over this fellow with his hackles raised and tail up — he demands a show of submission. The dominated coyote complies by exposing his vulnerable parts. A distraction in the distance gives this dominated fellow a window to slip away, which he does. But the dominating sibling then grabs the core of the golf ball which the first fellow had been playing with — along with a mouthful of grass. The dominated fellow then settles for second best: the outer shell of the ball — you can see him eyeing it and moving in, but he is afraid to actually grab it. So instead he moves in and watches enviously as the dominating fellow chews the core — one might almost think from the photos that the dominated guy is actually asking for the core.
Then the dominating fellow walks off with the core ball still in his mouth, and the dominated guy, keeping his eyes on the dominant one, grabs the shell, lies down and chews on this for a little while. But soon he turns to a piece of cork which is close by. The dominating fellow comes back for the abandoned shell, but instead simply marks it, and then leaves passing the other coyote almost with a snarl, as the less dominant fellow ignores him and works on his piece of cork.
Gnawing A Gardener’s Glove
05 Nov 2010 Leave a comment
Coyotes have a knack for finding fun things to play with. A gardening glove may have been left behind by one of the many volunteers in the park. It is the first time I’ve actually seen gnawing — as if it had been a bone. The leather part of the glove must have been a little like a dog’s rawhide toy. The activity engaged the coyote happily for about ten minutes.
Another Golfball and Another Pinecone
02 Nov 2010 Leave a comment
in coyote behavior, playing Tags: coyote behavior: playing
Standard coyote toys in this area seem to include golfballs and pinecones. In the two photo sequences here, each of these items was chewed, pawed and rubbed over. After playing with the pinecone for less than a minute, it was urinated on, or “marked” — so that the next guy would know who had been there — and then abandoned when the coyote wandered off. The golf-ball appeared to be a more special find: it was played with for a much longer period of time and then guarded, rather proudly, before the coyote left it. I’ve noticed that golfballs have become particularly special as toys recently.
A Playground With A Cache Of Toys
29 Oct 2010 Leave a comment
in coyote behavior, playing Tags: coyote behavior: toys
Coyotes appear to have “playgrounds”. The one I came across here had various objects which I’ve seen coyotes play with: objects left behind by humans and dogs, and even some of nature itself. Most of the objects were dismembered balls of various types, but also there was a stick, a piece of cork, the finger of a gardener’s glove which I watched being chewed when it was still attached to the glove, a pine cone, the stuffing of a doll which I observed chewed in another location, a dead bird, a piece of cloth, shredded garden “flags”. That there are favorite play areas is very interesting. But also, that there is a cache of toys. We know that coyotes are very aware of their environment: they are very aware of every individual person and every single dog that passes through their territories. But also, that they are aware of new objects left behind by humans, and they are curious about these. Picking them up and playing with them is a way to find out about them.
The idea of a “cache” of items drew my attention because of an article I read not long ago. The March 2010 National Geographic features an article on “Wolf Wars: Once Protected, Now Hunted,” by Douglas H. Chadwick. There is a quote on page 54: “The [wolf] pack has dragged in ceramic shards, cans, pots, pieces of iron tools from abandoned homesteads in the park. Canine junk collectors. Who knew?” “Wow!”, I thought to myself. I’ve now seen a coyote cache of toys! Do coyotes, too, “collect” things? Or were these things just brought to a “favorite spot” — a playground — to play with?
There is another quote on the same page which serves as a departure for further thought on coexistence: “Large mammals are learning and changing their behavior all the time: deer, bears, wolves, [coyotes] and yes, humans, too.” We can all modify our behavior enough so that the environment may include us all. We should be open to the fact that coyotes and humans can and do adapt fairly easily to each other. Of course, the immigrants — the newcomers, have always had a hard time because of conservative forces that are afraid of change: there is an “ecology of fear.” Coyote behavior doesn’t warrant this fear. The effort we need to expend on them is minimal: awareness, respect, securing our pets and garbage and not letting our dogs threaten these newcomers. If a coyote becomes a nuisance, it can probably be remedied by a mild alteration in our own behavior. It is our behavior — leaving pet food out, leaving trash cans open, leaving our pets out, and letting our dogs chase them — which, inadvertently as it may be, causes problems in the first place.
Squirrel Teases Coyote
22 Oct 2010 2 Comments
in coyote behavior, hunting, playing Tags: squirrel teases coyote
These two saw each other, one from high in a tree and the other from on the ground. I would have thought that the squirrel would have remained high and safe in the tree. But no. It descended half-way down, head first, holding on tightly with its sharp claws, scolding the coyote loudly, and flailing it’s tail with equal intensity. The squirrel then came all the way down to the coyote’s level, allowing the coyote to come close enough to almost make it a hunt instead of a game. The teasing went on for four full minutes! Finally the squirrel came down no more but remained high in the tree, and the coyote, knowing its chances for catching the squirrel were nil, lost interest and wandered off.
Found: Another Toy Treasure
12 Oct 2010 Leave a comment
Coyotes love to play, either with each other, or alone with a toy they have found. A toy is anything that has the potential for fun. In this case it was a child’s lost lady-bug doll. Although our human eyes might be drawn to the toy’s bright red color, as far as I’ve been able to find out, canine’s can’t really see red. A red ball tossed onto a lawn is much more difficult for a dog to find than a yellow one.
Toys are pulled, tossed and torn apart. They are rolled on and urinated on. Sometimes they appear to be lovingly caressed. More often than not, a young coyote will eventually leave his toy to return to it later, but I’ve also seen a coyote carry his toy several hundred feet before dropping it in a very unconcerned way and then continuing on himself without the toy. The day after I took these photos I found parts of this toy strewn over some distance: plastic, cloth, cotton stuffing. This is no different from the way a dog would play with a toy. The main difference I have seen is that a coyote will very often “mark” his found treasure — he definitely wants to claim it as his own. I don’t know if this “claim” is for the benefit of dogs visiting the park, or for his own family members.
Mom Teases & Tests
01 Oct 2010 Leave a comment
in coyote behavior, family interactions, hierarchy, mother/pup learning, playing
In this sequence of photographs, a mother coyote catches a vole and then seems to tease the younger coyote to come and get it. He does so, but when he actually latches on to the vole, the mother is right there and encloses the young coyote’s muzzle with hers — a sign of her dominance. The young coyote immediately withdraws. The mother again runs off with the vole and ultimately ends up eating it. But the younger coyote watches, and HE is the one in the last photo who is licking his chops!! This sequence may be about a mother reconfirming her dominance to an offspring who has been showing signs of dominance towards one of its siblings.
