Liam Darcy

Professor White

BIO 104 LAB

4-18-19

Coyotes

 

Coyotes belong to the Kingdom, Animalia, and Family Canidae. They also belong to the Genus, Canis, and the Genus species, Canis latrans (ITIS Integrated Taxonomic Information System 2015). Coyotes are found almost anywhere in North America, from as south as Panama and as north as Canada and Alaska. They are native to this area and can be found across the United States, including Maine. Coyotes can live in almost any habitat, including forest, desserts, even swamps and Maine woods and grasslands. In Maine, Coyotes can be found in both urban and suburban areas (Animal Diversity Web 2001). They are very adaptable animals.

Canis latrans typically mate in a three month period from January to March each year. The pregnancy rate of the mating season is determined by that year’s food supply, so can vary from one pack to another (Feldhamer et al 2003). They are monogamous animals, meaning that they normally only stay to one partner for a long period of time. When coyotes do get pregnant, it takes about 65 days until they give birth (Feldhamer et al 2003). When they give birth their litter sizes can range from one coyote, to nineteen coyotes. The average size of a litter is six newborn Coyotes. As the Coyotes are born they weigh around 250 grams, and their eyes are permanently shut. Within ten days of the pups being born they are about double the size at 650 grams, and their eyes that were permanently shut are now open. By day 35 the pups are fully trained to eat on their own (Animal Diversity Web 2001). They are trained to eat a variety of different foods and animals.

Coyotes can vary in color for physical appearance. They can be grayish brown and with a hint of red or a grayish silver with a hint of black (Project Coyote). They are part of the Canidae Family so they look very similar to some domestic dogs with four legs, pointed ears, and a tail. They have a tair that is half their body length with a scent gland at the end of it (Animal Diversity Web 2001). Coyotes are smaller than grey wolves but much larger than foxes. They weigh about 35-55 pounds (Project Coyote). They have yellow eyes, with pointed ears and black noses. Although they resemble a dog, who interact a lot with humans, Coyotes do not mingle with humans much at all. We can live in the same places, but Coyotes try not to interact with us. We hunt them occasionally if they are causing harm to us, but other than that we do not interact much at all.

The scientific paper I found was named, “Moose (Alces alces) predation by eastern coyotes (Canis latrans) and eastern coyote x eastern wolf (Canis latrans x Canis lycaon) hybrids.” It has been believed that eastern coyotes were incapable of hunting large animals, such as adult Moose. Since eastern coyotes are larger than western ones, they need to prey on larger animals (Benson and Patterson 2013). In this study, they hypothesized that Coyotes did indeed occasionally prey on adult Moose in eastern North America. They studied ten packs of coyotes over the time of two winters. Each pack consisted of two to five coyotes. Out of the ten packs they found four cases of four different packs that definitely killed adult Moose over the age of one and a half (Benson and Patterson 2013). They discussed that this was the first findings, of their knowledge, where Coyotes are killing Moose older than six months old. They accepted their hypothesis that Coyotes have the ability, and do hunt adult Moose due to the results of the field study.

This leads us to what other animals are preyed by Coyotes. They normally stick to eating smaller animals, but really have a large range in food supply. From fruit and insects to large mammals and livestock, coyotes will get their energy from almost anywhere. Some of their favorite animals to feast on are rabbits and rodents, as well as feeding on dead bodies of larger animals. They also eat plants, human food and hunt animals such as deer and baby elk (Feldhamer et al 2003). A study was done to find the most popular food from 168 Coyotes. They found that it was led by poultry at 34%, followed by persimmons at 23%, then insects at 11%, rodents at 9%, cattle at 7%, rabbits also at 7%, deer at 5%, woodchucks 4%, and goats and watermelon at 4% (Feldhamer et al 2003). As this study shows they have a wide variety of food, and they also hunt some bird species. Also as we learned in the scientific paper, they can even feed on adult Moose.

Coyotes are well off in their environments as concerned to conservation. The most frequent causes of death in Coyotes is actually from human activity. This can even be intentional by humans. This is when we have Coyote population reductions, if Coyotes are causing a risk to other wildlife species. It can also be if Coyotes are at risk of spreading a disease, or destroying livestock (Feldhamer et al 2003). Disease is another big threat to Coyotes. Parvovirus can be common in young coyotes (Feldhamer et al 2003). Coyotes are also threatened by starvation in some cases, where their food supply is scarce. Another threat to the Coyotes can be from larger carnivores, whom they do not compete well against. Which can related to what organisms get their energy from Coyotes. Larger animals like mountain lions and gray wolves can prey on Coyotes  (Animal Diversity Web 2001). Another carnivore that can feed on coyotes are cougars (Feldhamer et al 2003).

Coyotes have an important role in our ecosystem. Since they prey on many animals and only get preyed on by a few animals, they are considered secondary consumers. They help keep our environments clean by getting rid of dead animal bodies. They do this by feasting on them. An important regulation they have is keeping other species populations in check. Since they eat large rodents, who are a threat to birds, birds are in less danger (Project Coyote). By doing this Coyotes are also regulating the rodent population making sure it does not grow too quickly. Eating rodents also prevents the spreading of diseases that these rodents may carry (Project Coyote). So Coyotes can not just be harmful to the ecosystem, they can also have positive impacts from their actions.

In conclusion, Coyotes are very adaptable animals living all over North America. It is interesting to see how Coyotes can differ depending on the locations they live in. For example, eastern Coyotes are much larger than western ones. Also they are more adaptable to cold weather, and are more likely to live in packs (Leslie 1994). It is believed that there is this change between western and eastern Coyotes because eastern Coyotes breed with Wolves. Another interesting fact is that “coyote” actually means “barking dog” (Feldhamer et al 2003). Coyotes are mostly nocturnal and have a lifespan of anywhere between ten years old and eighteen, depending on if they are wild or not. Those are some interesting facts about coyotes.

 

Literature Cited-

 

Animal Diversity Web. 2001. Tokar E. [accessed 2019 18 April]

https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Canis_latrans/

This source is reliable because it is an educational resource that is edited by The University of Michigan, which is another highly regarded academic institution in the United States, and by the National Science Foundation.

 

Benson JF, Patterson BR. 2013. Moose (Alces alces) predation by eastern coyotes

(Canis latrans) and eastern coyote × eastern wolf (Canis latrans × Canis lycaon) hybrids. Can J Zool. 91(11):837.

This source is reliable and authoritative because it is a peer reviewed journal article written, and edited by many reputable people. John F Benson has a PhD in Ecology and Conservation Biology and Bruce R Patterson is a member of the Committee on Evolutionary Biology at the University of Chicago, which is a well known, highly reputable academic institution.

 

Feldhamer GA, Thompson BC, Chapman JA. 2003. Wild Mammals of North America.

Baltimore (MD):The Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 467-476.

This book is authoritative and reliable because it was found at the University of New England’s Library, and was also published through Johns Hopkins University, which is a well known academic institution around the world and highly regarded.  

 

ITIS Integrated Taxonomic Information System [Internet]. Reston, VA. [updated 2015 Jan 5.

cited 2019 April 4]. Available from: https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=180599#null

Integrated Taxonomic Information system is a reliable source because it is a governmental site which uses experts to give taxonomic information on many species.

 

Literature Cited-

 

Leslie S. 1994. The eastern coyote. Earthkeeper 5(4): 28-31.

This magazine article is a reliable source because it was published on Proquest, and written by Scott Leslie. Scott is an award winning author and photographer.

 

Project Coyote. [accessed 2019 18 April] http://www.projectcoyote.org/carnivores/coyote/

This online source is reputable because it is a non profit organization trying to promote the wildlife and human coexistence. Camilla H. Fox is the founder and executive director who has over twenty years of experience working in wildlife, and has a masters degree in wildlife, ecology, policy, and conservation.

 

Coyote by © Wally Nussbaumer

http://www.projectcoyote.org/carnivores/coyote/

 

Scientific Literacy is being able to communicate, either written or verbally, scientifically. This means you have knowledge and understanding or science based concepts. In lab, we had to read many scientific literacy works. Whether it was my species report, or presentation, or lab report, I had to read many scientific peer reviewed papers. Such as one about how coyotes actually prey on moose. It is important to know how to use scientific literacy because much of the world can be defined in scientific terms, so it is very important to know scientific concepts and have that understanding.