It was not until I got home and zoomed-in on these photos that I realized I had encountered an injured coyote. The black tip of the nose was lacerated around the edges and bent down, and it was somewhat extended as if it had been bitten into and pulled. There is something about Kipling’s “The Elephant’s Child” here. The entire end of the snout was swollen and there was red blood in a nostril. I’ve seen injured coyotes bask in the sun — I think this must be an instinctual reaction to help speed up, the healing — at least the warm sun might help soothe pain. And, in this case, this coyote spent time soothing its sore nose against the soft skin of its underside, as can be seen in the last photo.
This kind of laceration on the snout may have been caused by a fight. Might it have been with a raccoon as a predator, or maybe with another coyote over territory? Or maybe this coyote had been defending something precious, like a den? After all, it is pupping season.
