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Coyotes (Canis latrans) in GuatemalaAuthor(s): Nicté Ordóñez-Garza, Walter Bulmer, Ralph P. Eckerlin, and JohnO. MatsonSource: The Southwestern Naturalist, 53(4):507-509. 2008.Published By: Southwestern Association of NaturalistsDOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1894/CJ-150.1URL: http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1894/CJ-150.1

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NOTES

COYOTES (CANIS LATRANS) IN GUATEMALA

NICTE ORDONEZ-GARZA, WALTER BULMER, RALPH P. ECKERLIN, AND JOHN O. MATSON*

Department of Biological Sciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409-3131 (NOG)

Division of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Northern Virginia Community College,

Annandale, VA 22003-3796 (WB, RPE)

Department of Biological Sciences, San Jose State University, San Jose, CA 95192-0100 (JOM)

*Correspondent: johnomatson@gmail.com

ABSTRACT—Records of coyotes (Canis latrans) from Guatemala are based mostly on observationalrecords. We review existing literature for coyotes in Guatemala and report the first specimen from thiscountry.

RESUMEN—Los registros de coyote (Canis latrans) para Guatemala estan basados principalmente enobservaciones. Hacemos una revision de la literatura existente para coyotes de Guatemala y reportamosel primer especimen para este paıs.

The coyote (Canis latrans) has one of thewidest distributions of any North Americanmammal. Its range extends from the Pacific toAtlantic Oceans and from Alaska to Panama(Young and Jackson, 1951; Bekoff, 1977; Hall,1981; Mendez et al., 1981; Wozencraft, 2005). Itsdistribution in Central America and Mexico wassummarized recently by Hidalgo-Mihart et al.(2004). Records cited for Guatemala were basedupon visual and auditory observations and therewas no known specimen of the coyote recordedin any collections (T. J. McCarthy, pers. comm.).In this paper, we review previous observationalrecords of coyotes and document for the firsttime a specimen from Guatemala.

The earliest record of coyotes from Guatemalaapparently was based upon visual records. Alston(1879–1882) reported observations of coyotesfrom Hacienda San Geronimo, Vera Paz (5SanJeronimo, Baja Verapaz), and this record wascited by McCarthy and Perez (2006). Nelson(1932) reported that E. A. Goldman referred tocoyotes from Hacienda Chancol, which is in theSierra de los Cuchumatanes.

Most contemporary literature concerning dis-tribution (Young and Jackson, 1951; Bekoff,1977; Vaughan, 1983; Sosa-Escalante et al.,

1997; Ceballos and Oliva, 2005) suggests that C.latrans has expanded its range into southernMexico and Central America relatively recentlydue to anthropogenic activities of deforestationand raising of domestic animals, such as sheep,goats, and cattle. However, Hidalgo-Mihart et al.(2004) presented convincing paleontologicalevidence that coyotes have been in southernMexico and most of Central America prior toarrival of Europeans in the 15th Century.Extensive deforestation of much of southernMexico and Central America, since the arrival ofEuropeans, probably has increased the availablesuitable habitat for coyotes. Because coyotes tendto occupy open areas rather than forests (Youngand Jackson, 1951; Hidalgo-Mihart et al., 2004;Ceballos and Oliva, 2005), the supposed increasein geographic range of coyotes in Latin Americamight, in fact, reflect the greater availability ofopen areas.

Hidalgo-Mihart et al. (2004) used several typesof sources for their information on distributionof coyotes, including observational records, bothvisual and auditory. Sight records are inherentlysuspect because of possible confusion with otherspecies, most likely in this case with domesticdogs. The six localities in Guatemala from which

THE SOUTHWESTERN NATURALIST 53(4):507–509

THE SOUTHWESTERN NATURALIST 53(4):507–538 DECEMBER 2008

Hidalgo-Mihart et al. (2004:2037–2038) record-ed specimens do not, to our knowledge, haveactual specimens associated with them. Three ofthese localities, northeast of Guatemala City,Quetzaltenango, and Cuchumatanes (5Sierra delos Cuchumatanes), were described by C. O.Handley, Jr., directly to Young (Young andJackson, 1951) based upon Handley’s fieldworkin Guatemala during 1947. It is interesting thatHandley found coyotes to be quite common inthe Sierra de los Cuchumatanes: ‘‘This area isnot unlike many parts of the Rockies in thewestern United States, so it is no surprise to findcoyotes in numbers’’ (Young and Jackson,1951:18). Also, Handley (1950:147) stated thatthe coyote is ‘‘Definitely recorded only from thehigh savannahs of the Sierra de los Cuchuma-tanes, but reported from many of the other moreopen portions of the highlands, and as low as1,000 ft. elevation.’’ McCarthy and Perez (2006),in their checklist of Guatemalan mammals,referred to Handley’s (1950) record. During ourthree field trips to the Sierra de los Cuchumatanes(December 2004–January 2005, July 2005, andDecember 2005–January 2006), we neither sawnor heard any evidence of coyotes.

Remaining records given by Handley (1950)were based upon conversations he had with localresidents. He did not say he saw coyotes himself.All were, again, taken from Young and Jackson(1951). Handley reported activity of coyotes(visual or auditory observations) from the valleysnorth and west of Quetzaltenango. In addition,Handley reported that coyotes occurred near(within 13 km to the northeast) Guatemala Cityand in the Rıo Motagua Valley (not credited toYoung and Jackson in Hidalgo-Mihart et al.,2004). However, Hidalgo-Mihart et al. (2004)reported coyotes from Valle de Motagua basedupon a management plan prepared by Valle etal. (1999, not seen).

The locality recorded by Hidalgo-Mihart et al.(2004) at Uaxactum, Peten, Guatemala, also isbased upon a second-hand visual record. Platt etal. (1998) reported the first record of coyotesfrom Belize, and referred to the Peten record,which they received as a visual report fromanother person. Because their Belizean speci-mens were documented by photographs, we atleast have potential verification that coyotesoccur in the lowlands of Belize, making thereport from Peten more plausible. Handley (inYoung and Jackson, 1951:19) stated that, ‘‘It is

undoubtedly absent from all of the Caribbeanlowland and Peten, except in the arid portion ofthe Rio Motagua Valley….’’

A last locality recorded by Hidalgo-Mihart etal. (2004) was the Laguna Barrona reported inDix and Fernandez (2001, not seen). Thislocality is on the Pacific Coast near the borderwith El Salvador.

In our fieldwork in Guatemala over the pastfew years, we have records of coyotes from Juneand July 2006 in the region near Quetzalte-nango. At a camp 4 km SE Zunil (Finca LaChingada), 2,720 m, on the western slope ofVolcan Zunil, we heard coyotes howling in theearly morning of 30 June. At a second camp5 km ENE Cabrican (Bosque Ojo de Agua),3,100 m, we heard coyotes on the morning of 7July. This locality is a mountaintop locatedbetween Cabrican and Calel; Goldman (1951)described his Calel locality in almost the sameplace.

We picked up a dead coyote on GuatemalaHighway N9, 7 km N Quetzaltenango, 2,700 m(14u53.9309N, 91u31.7569W). The animal wasdiscovered on the side of a mountain road wherethe road took a sharp curve. The coyote was lyingin a rain gutter between the road and a steephillside. On the opposite side of the road, on thedown slope, there was a large garbage dump. Aflock of black vultures (Coragyps atratus) and afamily of black-throated jays (Cyanolyca pumilo)were feeding on the refuse, which might haveattracted the coyote. The specimen is an adultfemale (USNM 569761; field number John O.Matson 7230). The body was at an advancedstage of decomposition and the only salvageablepart was its skull. Skull measurements (mm)following Young and Jackson (1951) are: con-dylobasal length, 191.2; palatal length, 99.0;squamosal constriction, 63.4; zygomatic breadth,108.0; interorbital breadth, 31.9; length ofmaxillary toothrow, 84.1; upper carnassiallength, 19.3; length of first upper molar, 13.8;first upper molar breadth, 17.2; length of lowercarnassial, 21.5. This represents the first speci-men of the coyote recorded from Guatemala.The locality is in an area of intense agriculturaluse, mostly maize crops and goats, with little orno primary forest remaining.

We thank A. L. Gardner and T. J. McCarthy for helpin obtaining literature and E. Juarez for assistance inthe field. A. L. Gardner kindly supplied cranial

508 The Southwestern Naturalist vol. 53, no. 4

measurements for the specimen. We thank C. A.Hennessy and an anonymous reviewer for commentsand suggestions for the manuscript. We thank F.Herrera of Consejo Nacional de Areas Protegidas(CONAP), Guatemala, for providing collecting permitsand other valuable assistance during 2006.

LITERATURE CITED

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CEBALLOS, G., AND G. OLIVA, (editors). 2005. Losmamıferos silvestres de Mexico. Fondo de CulturaEconomica, Mexico, D.F.

DIX, M., AND J. F. FERNANDEZ. 2001. Inventario nacional delos humedales de Guatemala. Union Internacionalpara la Conservacion de la Naturaleza and ConsejoNacional de Areas Protegidas, San Jose, Costa Rica.

GOLDMAN, E. A. 1951. Biological investigations inMexico. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections115:1–476.

HALL, E. R. 1981. The mammals of North America.Second edition. John Wiley and Sons, New York.

HANDLEY, C. O., JR. 1950. Game mammals of Guatemala.Pages 141–162 in A fish and wildlife survey ofGuatemala (G. B. Saunders, A. D. Halloway, and C.O. Handley, editors). United States Department ofthe Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service, SpecialScientific Report 5:1–162.

HIDALGO-MIHART, M. G., L. CANTU-SALAZAR, A. GONZALEZ-ROMERO, AND C. A. LOPEZ-GONZALEZ. 2004. Historicaland present distribution of coyote (Canis latrans) inMexico and Central America. Journal of Biogeog-raphy 31:2025–2038.

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mentation and diversity. Pages 625–675 in Biodi-versidad de Guatemala (E. B. Cano, editor).Universidad del Valle de Guatemala, Guatemala.

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NELSON, E. W. 1932. Remarks on coyotes, withdescription of a new subspecies from Salvador.Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washing-ton 45:223–226.

PLATT, S. G., B. W. MILLER, AND C. M. MILLER. 1998. Firstrecord of the coyote (Canis latrans) in Belize. VidaSilvestre Neotropical 7:139–140.

SOSA-ESCALANTE, J., S. HERNANDEZ, A. SEGOVIA, AND V.SANCHEZ-CORDERO. 1997. First record of the coyote,Canis latrans (Carnivora: Canidae), in the YucatanPeninsula, Mexico. Southwestern Naturalist 42:494–495.

VALLE, L., R. SOTO, M. P. NEGREROS, S. PEREZ, AND C.CASTANEDA. 1999. Areas prioritarias para la conserva-cion en el sector norte del matorral espinoso delValle del Rıo Motagua, Guatemala. FundacionDefensores de la Naturaleza Programa AmbientalRegionalo para Centroamerica, Guatemala.

VAUGHAN, C. 1983. Coyote range expansion in CostaRica and Panama. Brenesia 21:27–32.

WOZENCRAFT, W. C. 2005. Order Carnivora. Pages532–628 in Mammal species of the world: ataxonomic and geographic reference (D. E. Wilsonand D. M. Reeder, editors). Third edition. TheJohns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, Mary-land.

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Submitted 30 April 2007. Accepted 23 January 2008.Associate Editor was Cheri A. Jones.

December 2008 Notes 509