A cunning coyote with a bad temper. Coyote: what kind of animal, description, habitat, behavioral features, photo Message about the coyote

Coyotes live in the USA, preferring open spaces. Unlike many animals that civilization displaces from their usual habitat, they adapt well to new living conditions, and even endure environmental threats.

This is a miniature animal, its body length is from 75 to 100 cm, it weighs 20 kg. The coat color is brown with alternating black and white hair. The belly and chest are lighter in color. The coyote has a dense body, a short neck with an elongated head, a long fluffy tail.

The muzzle is pointed, ears erect, yellow-golden eyes. There are 42 sharp teeth in the predator's mouth. Thin strong legs are not high, the claws on the paws are not retractable.

It is active at night and at dusk. He is a smart and quick-witted beast, well adapted to a difficult life in the wild.The coyote is an excellent swimmer, so he is able to catch his own fish. It can attack raccoons, skunks, birds, ruins bird clutches. In autumn, it eats berries and fruits, replenishing the supply of vitamins in the body.

Hunts alone, or paired with another relative. In times of famine, united in a flock, they hunt large animals together. Making raids on the outskirts of settlements, they roam in garbage cans.

They mostly live in pairs - male and female, or singly. Each has its own territory, which they mark and zealously defend, although it almost never comes to fights. Communicating with each other by barking, screeching or howling, they probably resolve the conflict peacefully.

He has excellent eyesight, smell and hearing. It is these qualities that a real predator needs for hunting and for saving from enemies, of which he has many: cougar, wolf and birds of prey. Coyote runs fast, speeds up to 45 km / h.

These are excellent family men, having created a couple, they live together all their lives. The rut starts in January-February. The female's pregnancy will last up to 65 days. Blind puppies are born in the lair and need careful care.

Usually there are 5 - 9 of them, sometimes a little more. The weight of one puppy is 280 - 320 grams.
The mother is always with them for the first few days, she does not go anywhere. The father of the family earns his living, he is well done, it is not easy to feed such a large family alone. The female feeds the cubs with milk for 1.5 months.

In case of detection by smell of the family, by any predator, they have several spare holes. If trouble is felt, parents transfer their puppies to a new place. Babies will go out to get acquainted with the outside world at the age of 3 weeks. They clumsily run, squint in the sun, play among themselves. In the fall, matured wolf cubs leave the family, only young females can stay until next year.

North American animal coyote- one of the most adaptable in the world, this animal can change its breeding patterns, habits, nutrition and social dynamics in order to survive in a wide variety of habitats.

Included in the type of chordates, the class of mammals, the canine family, relatives of wolves, foxes and jackals, there are 19 subspecies of the coyote. Coyote about the size of an average dog, may resemble the pygmy shepherd, although they are smaller than their wolf counterparts. The length of the body from the head to the sacrum is 80-95 centimeters. The tail adds another 41 centimeters to their length, the weight is usually about 9 to 23 kilograms.

Features and habitat of the coyote

The scientific name Canis latrans means barking dog. They have narrow elongated muzzles with yellow or amber eyes, erect ears, lean bodies covered with thick fur and long bushy tails.

The animals have gray, red, white or brown fur. Their coat color depends on where they live. animal coyote lives in North America and roam the plains and mountains, they rarely live in forests.

Favorite places of residence are the deserts of Canada, the United States, Mexico and Central America. As humans expand beyond the countryside, coyotes have to adapt to urban life in order to find food.

Today, residents of New York, Florida and Los Angeles are no longer surprised by the appearance of a coyote on the street. Coyotes are very fast creatures. However, most coyotes have never seen humans. They can develop about 64 kilometers per hour, excellent swimmers and jumpers.

The nature and lifestyle of the coyote

wild coyote extremely alert animal. They have a keen sense of smell and well-developed eyesight and hearing. Coyotes are solitary creatures and mark their territory with urine. During the winter, coyotes tend to become more social.

During the cold winter months, they join forces, forming hunting groups for easy foraging. These hunters are nocturnal, that is, they usually sleep during the day and go hunting at night.

To report your location coyotes howl. They also use other sounds to communicate, if a bark is heard like a dog, this is a sign of anxiety and threat, whining they greet each other, howling can mean they have found large prey or a message about their location.

Coyote babies squeal when they play and often howl in the summer to exercise their communication skills. They live in burrows, which are up to five meters long, about 60 centimeters wide and ends with an expanded nesting chamber. In the spring, coyote females dig their own hole under the trees in the forests, they can take someone's abandoned den, use a cave or a storm pipe.

Coyote food

Coyotes are picky eaters. It is believed that they are meat-eaters, in fact they are omnivorous and also consume vegetation. They like to hunt small game such as rodents, fish, frogs, they can eat carrion or eat up after other predators.

Snack, insects, fruits and herbs. If a flock of coyotes has gathered, then a large hunt may be conducted, for example, for deer. They often track their prey using their excellent sense of smell, they also use their endurance to pursue their prey for long distances and when the victim is exhausted, a blow is struck.

During the dry season, they may try to dig a water tank or find bovine drinkers. The vegetation that animals eat has some moisture reserves in it.

Urban coyotes use swimming pools, dog water bowls, ponds, and water hazards on golf courses and other aquiferous human sources of moisture.

Among the people sly coyote considered a pest that can kill livestock and domestic animals. In the cities, the coyote preys on domestic animals - cats, and goes through the garbage in the tanks. Coyotes can easily jump over a three-meter-high fence or wall.

Reproduction and lifespan of the coyote

You can see a couple coyotes in the photo males are heavier than females. In some cases, coyotes create long-term alliances, raising more than one offspring together, and sometimes the two remain together as long as they are alive. The mating season lasts from February to March.

At the beginning of the mating season, several single males gather around the female to court her, but she will only form a relationship with one of them. The couple will spend some time together before mating.

The gestation period is usually in April - May, when there is a lot of food. The gestation lasts 63 days, the brood is from three to twelve individuals. How big the brood size will be depends on where you live. coyote.

In areas where there are many coyotes, there will be a smaller brood. In areas with fewer coyotes, brood size will be larger. Both partners take part in the care of the young.

The mother feeds the cubs with milk for five to seven weeks, after three weeks they begin to eat semi-liquid food, which the male brings and spits out. A caring father carries food to the female with children all the time and helps protect against predators.

The female stays with the brood until their eyes open, which is approximately 11-12 days. By six months, young coyotes are quite mature and have permanent teeth. From this time on, the female trains her offspring to look for food for herself.

The family gradually disperses, and by autumn, the puppies, as a rule, go hunting alone. During the year they go their own way, marking their territory with urine. Animals are ready for mating by 22 months. animal coyote may also mate with dogs.

Their offspring are called coydogs. They are few in number as the males do not help the females take care of the offspring and mating takes place during the winter, resulting in low survival rates.

In the photo kaydog

Coyotes, also known as meadow wolves (lat. Canis latrans), are predatory widespread mammals belonging to the canine family. From the Aztec language the word coyotl. translates as "barking dog".

Description of the coyote

The Coyote species is represented by nineteen subspecies, sixteen of which inhabit the territory of America, Canada and Mexico, and three subspecies live in Central America. On the territory of the New World, meadow wolves occupy the same niche as jackals in Eurasia.

Appearance

Coyotes are noticeably smaller in body size.. The length of an adult predator is only 75-100 cm, and the tail is about a quarter of a meter. The height of the animal at the withers does not exceed 45-50 cm. The average weight of the predator varies between 7-21 kg. Along with other wild dogs, meadow wolves have erect ears and a long fluffy tail.

This is interesting! Coyotes living in mountainous areas have darker fur, while desert predators are characterized by light brown fur.

Coyotes are characterized by fairly long brown fur with gray and black patches. In the belly area, the fur is very light, and at the tip of the tail it is pure black. Compared to ordinary wolves, coyotes have a more elongated and sharp muzzle, which is a bit like a fox in shape.

Character and lifestyle

Coyotes have adapted much better than wolves to living near human habitation and are developing territories almost in parallel with people. Prairie wolves, as a rule, eschew forest zones and prefer flat areas - prairies and deserts. Sometimes they are found on the outskirts of megacities and fairly large settlements. Representatives of all subspecies are characterized by the manifestation of maximum activity with the onset of dusk.

Adult coyotes are good at digging holes, but are also able to settle in other people's empty dwellings.. The standard territory of a predator is about nineteen kilometers, and urine-marked trails are used for animal movement. In areas where common wolves are completely absent or their small numbers are noted, coyotes are able to breed very quickly and actively.

Despite its small size, the predatory mammal can jump three to four meters and reach speeds of up to 40-65 km/h while running. Quite numerous representatives of the Canine family have long followed in the footsteps of the discoverers and have easily taken root in almost any new conditions. Initially, the habitat of coyotes was exclusively southern and central regions in North America, but at present, almost the entire continent is inhabited by subspecies.

How long do coyotes live

In nature, coyotes usually live no more than ten years, and the average life expectancy of a predator in captivity is about eighteen years.

coyote species

Currently, nineteen subspecies of prairie wolves are known to be living today:

• C. latrans latrans;
• C.latrans cagottis;
• C. latrans clerticus;
• C. latrans diskeyi;
• C.latrans frustror;
• C. latrans goldmani;
• C. latrans hondurensis;
• C. latrans impavidus;
• C. latrans incolatus;
• C. latrans jamesi;
• C. latrans lestes;
• C.latrans mearnsi;
• C. latrans microdon;
• C. latrans ohrorus;
• C.latrans reninsulae;
• C. latrans texensis;
• C. latrans thamnos;
• C. latrans umrquensis;
• C. latrans vigilis.

Range, habitats

The main distribution area of ​​the meadow wolf is represented by the West and the central part of North America. The massive clearing of forest areas and the extermination of the main competitors in terms of food, represented by common and red wolves, allowed coyotes to spread over vast areas compared to their original historical range.

This is interesting! Coyotes very easily adapt to the anthropogenic landscape, and in mountainous areas such predators are found even at around two to three thousand meters above sea level.

A century ago, meadow wolves were the original inhabitants of the prairie, but now coyotes are found almost everywhere, from Central America to Alaska.

coyote diet

Coyotes are omnivorous and extremely unpretentious predators in food, but a significant part of the diet is represented by food of animal origin, including hares and rabbits, and ground squirrels, small rodents. Coyotes often prey on raccoons, birds, and even some insects. Prairie wolves swim very well and are able to successfully hunt all kinds of aquatic animals, represented by fish, frogs and newts.

In the last summer decade and early autumn, meadow wolves are happy to eat berries and all kinds of fruits, as well as peanuts and sunflower seeds. With the onset of winter, coyotes living in the northern territories switch to a more acceptable diet and feed on carrion and weakened, old or sick animals. Predators inhabiting national parks quickly get used to people, therefore they are able to take food even from human hands.

In accordance with the data of the analysis of the gastric contents of coyotes, the standard diet of a predator is represented by:

• carrion - 25%;
• small rodents - 18%;
• livestock - 13.5%;
• wild deer - 3.5%;
• birds – 3.0%;
• insects - 1.0%;
• other animals - 1.0%;
• products of plant origin - 2.0%.

Prairie wolves rarely attack adult and large livestock, and wild deer, but they are able to forcefully hunt lambs or newborn calves.

Reproduction and offspring

Pairs in coyotes, apparently, are formed once and for life. Prairie wolves are very responsible and attentive parents, touchingly caring for their offspring. The active breeding season is in January or February. Pregnancy lasts a couple of months. After the appearance of babies, adult coyotes hunt in turn and reliably guard the den, represented by a shallow hole or rocky crevice. Each family of meadow wolves necessarily has several spare dwellings, where offspring are transferred by parents at the slightest suspicion of danger.

Prairie wolves reach puberty at the age of about one year, but, as a rule, married couples develop only after reaching two years. In a litter, most often from four to twelve puppies are born, which become sighted only at ten days of age. For the first month, coyotes feed on mother's milk, after which the cubs begin to gradually leave their den, and the puppies become completely independent only in the fall. Males most often leave the parental burrow, and sexually mature females, on the contrary, prefer to remain in the parental flock. The largest number of young animals die during the first year of life.

Both parents share the care of their growing children equally.. In the very first days after the birth of puppies, the female does not leave the hole at all, so all the problems of getting food are completely solved exclusively by the male, who leaves the rodents at the entrance to the hole, but can also burp half-digested food. As soon as the puppies grow up a little, both parents begin to participate in the hunt. Quite often, puppies from two or three females are born and raised together in a voluminous den. There are also well-known cases of coyotes interbreeding with wolves or domestic and wild dogs, resulting in the birth of hybrid individuals.

Coyotes are carnivorous mammals that naturally live primarily in North America. Initially, their population was not numerous due to the competition of stronger predators - wolves. However, as deforestation and the extermination of wolves in the last half century, coyotes have noticeably spread throughout the mainland.

Coyotes are much smaller in size than wolves, with an average body length of about 80 centimeters and a weight of 7 to 22 kilograms. The coat is long, mostly brown or grayish in color, slightly lighter in the abdomen. The ears of the coyote are erect, and the muzzle, as can be seen from the photo of coyotes, is more elongated than that of wolves, more like a fox. The coyote is the fastest member of the canine family. He is able to reach speeds of up to 50 kilometers per hour, and his jump reaches four meters in length.

These predators have managed to adapt to various adverse and difficult conditions. Coyotes are excellent swimmers, which helps them in the extraction of food. They can catch fish, various amphibious inhabitants of the rivers. The diet of coyotes is very diverse. Although they are considered predators, coyotes also eat berries and nuts in the fall to replenish their supply of nutrients before winter. In severe winter time, they do not disdain even carrion. Usually, small animals such as rabbits, marmots, skunks, and ferrets make up the bulk of the diet of coyotes. In populated areas, they can be seen rummaging through garbage.

Often small pets are preyed upon by coyotes, mostly small cats and dogs. On farms, coyotes ravage chicken coops and kill sheep and other small livestock. However, there is also a benefit, since these predators can exterminate harmful rodents - mice and rats.

Coyotes mostly hunt alone or in family pairs; rarely, in times of famine, they can unite in flocks to drive larger prey. Permanent flocks are found in regions with abundant food and consist mainly of parents and offspring of various ages. Coyotes demarcate the territory, each defends his site and periodically marks it. However, even when invaded by strangers, they try to avoid conflicts, resolving all disagreements with the help of barking and howling.

It is common for coyotes to develop strong marital bonds. As a refuge, they use burrows, and after the birth of the cubs, the male takes care of the food of the offspring. The female at this time is near the kids.

Coyote photo gallery

Prairie wolf, or coyote (Canislatrans), belongs to the wolf family. The lifestyle of coyotes has much in common with another relative of this family - the jackal. Therefore, the prairie wolf is sometimes called the American jackal.

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Animals are common in central and western parts of North America. They prefer open spaces of prairies and deserts. Almost never found in forests.

Coyotes were mercilessly exterminated, mistakenly believing that they harm pastoralism. But it was the persecution of man that contributed to the expansion of the distribution area of ​​​​animals. They were chased with dogs, set traps, used poison, driven and caught in helicopters and cars. And coyotes, thanks to their agility, the ability to adapt to the most adverse conditions, withstood numerous hunters, shepherds, and the worst enemies - cougars and eagles. Previously, coyotes lived only on the plateau of the West, and when people began to hunt them, the animals, fleeing, settled throughout the territory.

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Unlike, coyotes are much smaller. The body length reaches 90 cm, height - 50 cm, weight - a little more than 10 kg, tail length - 30 cm. Since the meadow wolf or coyote is a small animal, it does not need a large amount of food. Therefore, he almost does not attack ungulates (wild deer, antelopes, pronghorns), or does this extremely rarely. And if coyotes hunt large animals, they use the relay method: one group starts the pursuit, the second changes it, and so on until the powerless animal falls. The meadow wolf prefers rabbits, hares, small rodents.

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These predators hunt alone, in pairs and in groups. While tracking down the victim, they show amazing ingenuity. For example, when hunting a wild rabbit, one of the coyotes sits in ambush, and the second chases the victim so that she will certainly fall into a trap.

By the way, these animals are able to develop a speed of about 65 km / h. Coyotes do not always rely on fast running, but they also attract the victim with all sorts of tricks. During hunting in pairs, there are cases when one of the partners, noticing a hare, falls to the ground and starts to jerk, somersault, which attracts the attention of a hare. And while he is looking at an unusual picture, a second coyote attacks him from the other side. They also eat birds and insects. They know how to fish. They lie in wait for fish in the shallows. If a meadow wolf or a coyote sees the back of a fish sticking out of the water, it will instantly grab the prey.

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In addition, predators also feed on the fruits of plants, sometimes raiding fields to profit from melons and tomatoes. Only in some cases, when there is not enough food in the wild, they attack domestic animals, most often sheep and goats. Around settlements, coyotes are nocturnal, and in secluded places they are active during the day.

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Anyone who hears the howl of a prairie wolf for the first time will never forget the horror that can arise at this moment. Experts have established that such a terrible howl is their way of communicating. So they report where to profit, call relatives, report the occupation of the territory, complain of loneliness, or howl for their own pleasure. People would learn a lot of interesting things from the life of coyotes if they understood their language.

They make their lairs in caves, rock crevices, burrows of other animals or hollows of fallen trees. They do not make bedding in their homes.

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Married couples create coyotes for life. The female brings 8-10, and sometimes up to 18 babies. For the first few days after the birth of the cubs, the female does not leave the lair. The male takes care of her and the babies. At the age of one and a half months, young coyotes begin to leave the den. Parents diligently bring up and train them. During this period, males spend a lot of time with children: they carefully lick them, play with them. After six months, the grown-up coyote cubs become independent, leave their parents and go in search of their territory, where they start their own families. Coyotes live for 13 years.

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