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Song Dog [Canis lantrans] The Latin translation of the above is ‘barking dog’, an apt description of a most clever canine, the coyote. Found from Alaska to Costa Rica, the coyote is one of the most adaptive animal species in nature, learning to live and even thrive with mankind as a neighbor. Built for speed, the coyote can run up to forty mph, a useful skill as his main food sources are rabbits and small rodents. Actually there is not much that coyotes won’t eat, including prickly pear fruit to road kill. In our Sonoran desert, they average fifteen to twenty-five pounds, explaining why we see very few ‘fat’ coyotes; that skinny, long-legged, canine ghost passing though your yard is the norm not the exception. Coyotes mate for life, with the mated pair forming the alphas of the pack which consists of their own children and grandchildren. Pack members do not breed as long as the alphas and pack are intact, a natural strategy that controls the coyote’s population. If something happens to one

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Page 1: Song Dog [Canis lantrans] - smilingdoglandscapes.com Dog [Canis lantrans].pdf · Song Dog [Canis lantrans] The Latin translation of the above is ‘barking dog’, an apt description

Song Dog [Canis lantrans]

The Latin translation of the above is ‘barking dog’, an apt description of a most clever canine, the coyote.

Found from Alaska to Costa Rica, the coyote is one of the most adaptive animal species in nature, learning to live and even thrive with mankind as a neighbor.

Built for speed, the coyote can run up to forty mph, a useful skill as his main food sources are rabbits and small rodents. Actually there is not much that coyotes won’t eat, including prickly pear fruit to road kill. In our Sonoran desert, they average fifteen to twenty-five pounds, explaining why we see very few ‘fat’ coyotes; that skinny, long-legged, canine ghost passing though your yard is the norm not the exception.

Coyotes mate for life, with the mated pair forming the alphas of the pack which consists of their own children and grandchildren. Pack members do not breed as long as the alphas and pack are intact, a natural strategy that controls the coyote’s population. If something happens to one

Page 2: Song Dog [Canis lantrans] - smilingdoglandscapes.com Dog [Canis lantrans].pdf · Song Dog [Canis lantrans] The Latin translation of the above is ‘barking dog’, an apt description

or both of the alphas, the pack may fracture, allowing the betas to start breeding and producing pups, another strategy to quickly increase the population.

Very territorial, the coyote uses its song to lay claim to its hunting range and warn off trespassers. In fact, research has indicated that the coyotes have at least 11 different vocalizations which, coupled with body language, setting, and personality, produces a very complicated language. Two coyotes can easily modulate their voices when singing in unison, using all 11 sounds to sound like a pack of eight.

They are cooperative hunters, known to chase game in relays, with participants alternating between the hunt and resting. Coyotes play an important role in balancing our desert ecology by regulating the food web below and around them, making them a keystone species [one whose presence or absence has a significant effect on the surrounding biological community].

An icon of the American west, the coyote is revered by Native Americans as the ‘Trickster’: a magical being, part creator and part jokester. While very skillful in his own right, Coyote specializes in using the skills of others to accomplish his goals, often uniting others in cooperation to accomplish important tasks. In many tales, Coyote tends to obscure simple issues and devises complicated solutions to solve them. At all times Coyote is irreverent, fun loving and paradoxical.

Navajo sheep herders had a great respect for coyotes, calling them God’s dog. It was only after sheepherders began running large herds of unprotected sheep that coyotes became a ‘scourge’ to be eliminated. Some of our historical attempts at managing the coyote population backfired and actually increased coyote numbers by fragmenting established packs. Larger coyote populations led to less natural prey causing coyotes to prey upon man’s domestic animals.

Most wildlife managers would agree that when it comes to negative interactions between coyotes and humans, it is humans that need ‘managing’.

If you would like to learn more about this wonderful creature and read tips on how you can keep from being part of his problem, Google “The natural history of the urban coyote” and be amazed! Spoiler alert, don’t feed them!!

Come stroll the Smiling Dog Gardens with Tom on October 13th at 9 am and learn what plants thrive in our desert environment.

To register for this free walk, call 480-288-8749 or e-mail us at [email protected]