Full of beans?
I’ve now observed and experienced this kind of frenzied behavior twice by two different coyotes, two instances of it during my 16+ years of observations.
The behavior involved a young, loner coyote with what looked like an intense case of the zoomies. It’s not something that we normally associate with a wild animal. But it indeed happened. The young coyote acted high-spirited, feisty, and cocky-sure of himself. That people were around and observing seems to have been a contributing factor: the coyote appeared to be *performing* for us.
Apparently, this same coyote felt brave enough to approach someone in the same way the previous day. That young lady ran from him in fear and then tripped, making the experience a terrifying one for her.
So today, shortly after dawn, this young male coyote appeared on a large expanse of empty lawn which runs along a sidewalk. He had been sighted on the lawn every morning for about a week at about the same time. When I first set eyes on him, he was engaged in galloping spurts of back and forth zoomies while bobbing his head up, down and sideways like a pony, with sudden direction changes and sometimes chasing his tail. The brief spurts ended as quickly as they began with a few minutes of rest: lying down and looking around to see who was watching him. I was not positioned for taking photos until after the burst of zoomies.
Zoomies, feints: testing? (10/11)
I situated myself close to a tree and stood still about 100 feet away with my camera focused on him. The couple of other people who had been watching him walked on. He was aware of me and that I was watching him — coyotes are well aware of all of their surroundings. Then he suddenly leaped up and darted in my direction, seemingly playfully, with eyes fixed on me. This is when I changed the camera to video mode. I didn’t move as he performed a number of short charges/feints towards me, tauntingly ? testing ?, but then darted away. It was almost a semi-grazing movement towards and then away from me, but he never came into contact with me as he repelled off to the side, and not as close as it appears in the video — mine is a 150-650mm lens which can’t take anything close. My iPhone would have worked better, but that was in my pocket. I’ve seen this coyote behavior towards dogs, where play bows are incorporated into the behavior. The incident of over a year ago included these play bows, but not this time. I stood still and didn’t move or react as I held my camera focused on him, and then I slowly backed away, one step at a time as I kept filming him.
Was this play? Or maybe he was hoping I would run away, like I was told the last person did. Was he testing his own power of bluff against our human species’? He may have wondered why I was watching him and may have decided to figure out my intentions by testing if I would react or respond to his approaching me.
After I backed up about 20 feet, he stopped his dashings-in and sideways, and approached and sniffed the spot where I had been standing. After absorbing as much information as he could about me he ran off doing tail chases and tumbling on the lawn, no different from what our domestic dogs do during play. After a few of these he came back and looked at me out of the corner of his eye, again bobbing his head a little, like a young pony defying its owner. I could tell he was deciding whether to come towards me again. But I stood perfectly still, without reacting, holding my camera in front of my face, and that’s when he turned around and then flitted off — he had been unable to get a reaction out of me.
While I continued to watch, the coyote approached another person from behind, but that person wasn’t even aware of it and walked on. The coyote then sat down and waited, but no one else came by, so he then jumped up and darted off and out of view for good.
This was not an *attack* by any means. This animal did not come towards me to assault me, bite me, or injure me, even though the combination of cockiness, energy, and testing, could be used to label him as *bold* in a world where we expect him to shy away from us. It was a uniquely interesting interaction.
In the previous case, several years ago, that coyote had been profusely fed by humans. In this case today, I don’t know if there has been feeding going on: I’m hoping to find out. I’m speculating that the behavior might have been, on some level, territorial in nature — possibly trying to push people out without being aggressive about it? In other words, a sort of, “I’m only teasing” with a kernel of truth?
What should anyone do if they encounter this type of behavior? I myself was documenting him, so I remained totally neutral and didn’t react at all. I could have, and would suggest that others, treat him as though you had a dog with you: simply walk away calmly. However, if he advances critically close, close enough to potentially touch you, get super angry and toss some 1″ stones towards (not at) his legs to show him that his behavior is not appreciated or acceptable. I want to reiterate that this is RARE behavior. But if it happened to me, it could happen to you, and you should know about it.
Appropriate terms I’ve used for this situation:
- zoomies: a sudden burst of frenetic energy in which an animal (typically a dog or cat) runs to and fro. “Many dogs get the zoomies after a bath”
- frenzied: wildly excited and uncontrolled
- frenetic: fast and energetic in a rather wild and uncontrolled way
- feint: to give a false appearance or to fake something
- testing: revealing a person’s capabilities by putting them under strain; challenging.
- full of beans: very lively and have a lot of energy and enthusiasm.
- grazingly: to brush closely against ( he came close, but there was no contact)
- cocky sure: marked by overconfidence or presumptuousness
- bold: not hesitating or fearful in the face of actual or possible danger or rebuff
© All information, maps, and photos in my postings come from my own original and first-hand documentation work [except where indicated] which I am happy to share, with permission and with properly displayed credit: ©janetkessler/coyoteyipps.com.
