Preventing and Controlling Coyote Problems

1983

1995

Coyotes (Canis latrans) live in social groups with relatively small territories or as single, non-territorial transients with large home ranges in southern Texas. Coyotes communicate and establish territories through auditory, olfactory, and visual means They consume mammals, fruits, and insects with their diets reflecting difference sin abundance and vulnerability of prey, effects of plant phenology and weather conditions. Coyotes have adapted to human exploration by avoiding humans and their control techniques. Because coyotes habituate to nonlethal control techniques (e.g., frightening devices), I suggest apply frightening devices only when coyotes are a problem. Lethal techniques likely will be most effective at resolving coyote depredations if they are applied at depredation sites and immediately before or when losses occur.

1995

Predators and predator management in general are always controversial topics. As with most controversies, both ends of an emotional continuum vy for the attention of the nonvocal, uncomitted majority. To provide unbiased information on the controversy surrounding coyotes (Canis laft.ans) in Texas, the Texas Agricultural Extension Service produced a 23-minute video in 199 1. The video addresses both "sides" of the coyote "coin" while providing factual biological information on the topic. The video has been quite popular, and has received both state and national awards.

2007

We summarize the behavior of several species of canids (coyotes, dingoes, and gray wolves) in relation to their habituation to humans and to human food sources. Striking parallels exist between coyotes and other wild canids in terms of the inclination of individual animals to act aggressively toward humans and even attack, once they have come to associate humans with food. We describe the stages of coyotes' behavioral adaptation to suburban ecosystems, listing 7 steps toward increasing habituation, which can be used as action thresholds for invoking active coyote management or removal efforts. We consider the hypothesis that coyotes may regard small children as potential prey, as demonstrated by stalking and attack behaviors. We discuss the difficulty in extinguishing aggressive coyote behavior with hazing or other less than lethal practices, once it has become established. We note that in educational materials developed to reduce the incidence of dog bite and injury to children, the recommendations made are the opposite of those made when encountering an aggressive coyote. We note that there are additional questions that must be answered in order for us to have a better understanding of why some canids become dangerous following habituation.

Western North American Naturalist, 2022

The coyote (Canis latrans) has a wide distribution range, spanning boreal forests from the north of the continent to tropical environments in Central America, showing great adaptation and plasticity. Bergmann’s rule states that individuals inhabiting colder climates are larger than those in warmer climates. It is suggested that in carnivore species, litter size is influenced by allometric constraints such as maternal body size. The aim of this study is to analyze the relations using correlation between female coyote mass, latitude, and litter size. Using data compiled from the literature, I carried out statistical analyses to correlate female body size, litter size, and latitude for coyotes across their distribution range. The results indicated a soft significant correlation between female body size and latitude, confirming Bergmann’s rule. However, no significant correlation was found between litter size and latitude or between litter size and female body size; litter size in coyotes remains roughly uniform across their distribution range. El coyote (Canis latrans) tiene un amplio rango de distribución, que abarca desde bosques boreales en el norte del continente hasta ambientes tropicales en Centroamérica, mostrando una gran adaptación y plasticidad. La regla de Bergmann establece que los individuos en climas más fríos son más grandes que los que habitan en los climas más cálidos. Se sugiere que en las especies el tamaño de la camada está influenciada por restricciones alométricas como el tamaño del cuerpo materno. El objetivo de este estudio es analizar la relación entre el peso de las hembras de coyote, la latitud y el tamaño de la camada. Utilizando datos recopilados de la literatura, llevé a cabo análisis estadísticos para correlacionar el tamaño del cuerpo de la hembra de coyote con el tamaño de la camada y la latitud en su rango de distribución. Los resultados indicaron una correlación ligeramente significativa entre el tamaño del cuerpo de las hembras y la latitud, lo que confirma la regla de Bergmann. Sin embargo, no se encontró una correlación significativa entre el tamaño de la camada y la latitud o el tamaño de la camada y el tamaño del cuerpo de las hembras. Ya que, se encontró que el tamaño de la camada en los coyotes es similar a lo largo de todo su rango de distribución.

Journal of Wildlife Management, 2008

Interactions between wolves (Canis lupus) and coyotes (C. latrans) can have significant impacts on their distribution and abundance. We compared diets of recently translocated Mexican wolves (C. l. baileyi) with diets of resident coyotes in Arizona and New Mexico, USA. We systematically collected scats during 2000 and 2001. Coyote diet was composed mostly of mammalian species, followed by vegetation and insects. Elk (Cervus elaphus) was the most common item in coyote scats. Mexican wolf diet had a higher proportion of large mammals and fewer small mammals than coyote diet; however, elk was also the most common food item in Mexican wolf scats. Our results suggest that Mexican wolf diet was more similar to coyote diet than previously reported, but coyotes had more seasonal variation. Considering results in other areas, we expect that Mexican wolves will have a negative impact on coyotes through direct mortality and possibly competition. Reintroduction of Mexican wolves may have great impacts on communities by changing relationships among other predators and their prey.

The Canadian Field-Naturalist, 2006

We studied capture Eastern Coyotes (Canis latrans) from 27-585 days of age and compiled an ethogram on them. A total of 72247 15-sec samples were taken, amounting to 301 h of field time varying between 59.4–61.3 h per Coyote. A total of 540 behavioral patterns was observed amongst the 16 behaviour categories ranging from 9 (miscellaneous) to 72 (explore/investigate) action patterns per parent category. The 16 parent categories that we believed best described and appropriately sorted the behavioural actions were resting, sitting, sitting1, sitting2, standing, traveling, explore/investigating, hunting, feeding, infantile, greeting, self play, play initiating, playing, agonistic, and miscellaneous. Exploring accounted for >31% of all of the behaviours observed with resting and sitting (combined), standing, traveling, and play as categories decreasing in order of most to least frequent. Despite some omissions in our ethogram and drift associated with its ongoing development, we belie...

1983

The Southwestern Naturalist, 2009

Several aspects of the ecology of coyotes (Canis latrans) have been studied in cities (i.e., diet, use and selection of habitat, movements), but additional knowledge will assist persons that are responsible for management of urban predators. We studied coyotes in central Tucson, Pima Co., Arizona, during November 2005-November 2006. Our objectives were to monitor radiocollared coyotes to determine size of home range, to ascertain use of habitat based on land-use categories and movements, and to describe a den of urban coyotes. Average size of home range calculated using the 95% fixed-kernel method was 26.8 6 5.1 SE km 2 for resident coyotes. Overall, land categories used most often were washes, medium-density residential areas, and low-density residential areas. Movements were ,520 m/h within land-use categories used most often during day and night (i.e., medium-density residential areas and washes) and .800 m/h in areas that were used most during the night (i.e., highdensity residential and commercial areas). Coyotes were able to meet their life-history requirements in central Tucson likely due to available resources and a diversity of land-use categories, especially washes.

2007

Coyotes (Canis latrans) have become common in many metropolitan areas across the United States. Recent research has focused on the urban ecology of coyotes to better our understanding of how they exist in urbanized landscapes. 1 summarize findings from a variety of ecological studies of coyotes in or near metropolitan areas, and focus on three areas of coyote ecology: survival rates, home rangelactivity, and food habits. Most studies have reported relatively high survival rates (annual S = 0.62 -0.74), with vehicle collisions often a common cause of mortality. Size of coyote home ranges (mean home range sizes among urban studies ranged 5 -13 km2) generally exhibit a negative trend with urbanization when compared to rural studies, but this is complicated by a trend within urban landscapes in which coyote home ranges tend to increase with fragmentation and development. Studies have consistently reported a decrease in diurnal activity with human use areas. Although coyotes in some areas avoid human use areas, they are nevertheless frequently in close proximity to people. Coyote food habits in urbanized areas are similar to mral areas, in which mammalian prey and vegetation (i.e., fmit) comprise most of the diet; however, there is a trend toward more anthropogenic items from more developed areas. The relatively small home-range sizes and high survival rates suggest coyotes are successful in adjusting to an urbanized landscape.