EASTERN COYOTE Canis latrans

The Eastern coyote (Canis latrans) could be one of the least understood and most maligned creatures of the state. This relative newcomer to Vermont is an incredibly adaptable and, therefore, successful predator. Since the 1940s when the coyote was first found in Vermont, it has moved east to New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and south to New York City. Today, the coyote is an established member of Vermont’s fauna and plays an important role in Vermont’s ecosystems. Vermont Wildlife Fact Sheet

Physical Description base and the tail is tipped in black. may mate for life. The gestation The tail is about 13 inches long, period is approximately nine In general, male coyotes are and in comparison with a German weeks, with an average litter of six larger and heavier than females, shepherd, it is shorter and pups. weighing between 30 and 40 bushier. pounds, although a few may Coyotes sometimes dig out exceed 50 pounds. On average, The body length of coyotes fox or woodchuck holes for dens, females weigh around 30 pounds. averages between 42 and 55 but also use other sites, including inches, however, females rarely natural caves and crevices in There is considerable variation exceed 48 inches. Coyotes have a ledges, and holes created by in coat color among eastern small nose pads, less than an inch overturned trees. Pups are born in coyotes. The face is gray with a in width, which distinguishes it late April or early May with solid muzzle that is dark or reddish from wolves which have a broad colored coats and spindly tails, along the sides. There is a black nose pad. The ears are large, but this will change rapidly as line behind the eyes, soft reddish pointed, and well furred. they grow. Their coats will fur behind the ears extending to become more like an adult’s as the next, and white or cream- Coyote tracks are consider- they shed their puppy fur, and colored fur under the chin and ably larger than fox tracks and their tails become fuller three throat. smaller than wolf tracks, but months after birth. narrower and longer than most The body is most often a dog tracks. Most people have Instinctive wariness makes the brownish-gray with a dark line difficulty distinguishing coyote adult coyote alter its approach to that runs along the back. The sides tracks from those of domestic the den. If coyotes are disturbed are usually dark, and the dogs. Coyotes, like most canines while in the den area, they will underbelly is white or cream- (the gray fox being the exception), move the pups to a new den. Until colored. The legs usually have a have claws that are not retractable her pups can travel, the den is dark stripe partly down the front and may show up in the track. only a base of operations for the of the forelegs. Occasionally this Dewclaws are usually absent on female while she is caring for her coloration sometimes extends onto the rear legs of eastern coyotes. young. the flanks. Feet are usually light or buff in color, but occasionally they Life Cycle Coyote pups, like most are reddish around the toes. wildlife young, are taught the The howl of coyotes can ways of life and survival by their The bushy tail is gray above usually be heard on winter nights, parents. The male coyote helps in and lighter below. The upper side especially during mating season feeding and caring for the young. of the tail has a black spot one in February. They usually begin The pups begin to go on short third of the way down from the breeding at two years of age and trips from the den at about two Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department FW 1/2009 Eastern Coyote Fact Sheet ♦ 1 months of age. Gradually, the been the key to the coyote’s generalists, a study completed in family hunting trips become success in Vermont. Vermont in 1988 found that longer. Pups travel with their coyotes in the Champlain Valley parents through the fall and The coyote, like many other tended to use forested habitats sometimes during early winter. predators, has a bad reputation. more during winter and spring By January, as the breeding Despite occasional conflicts with and open areas more frequently season approaches, most of the humans, the coyote plays an during summer and fall seasons. young coyotes must finish important role in the ecosystem. It Use of different habitats by learning on their own, as many is one of Vermont’s major large coyotes depends on many factors times they are no longer tolerated mammalian predators. including the abundance of prey, by the adults. The pups often The relationship between a the weather, topography, and travel long distances to find a predator, such as the coyote, and competition with other predators. territory that is not occupied by its prey is complex. Predator Abundance another pair of coyotes. In late populations tend to fluctuate in winter of their year, a pup may response to periodic changes in Vermont’s coyote population take a mate, but they do not prey densities. In Vermont, the will continue to thrive as long as usually breed until the following highest coyote densities are on habitat conditions permit it. year. agricultural lands, where prey Coyotes are very adaptable and Food Items populations are numerous and can be considered natural varied. survivors. Coyotes in Vermont are The eastern coyote is an wild and wary of people because omnivore; it is both a predator Habits and Habitat of hunting and trapping seasons. and a scavenger with a widely The eastern coyote is much In states like Massachusetts and varied diet. The coyote’s diet and quieter than the western coyote. California, where there is limited feeding habits can be more Occasionally at dawn and dusk negative reinforcement from accurately compared to those of during the year, their yapping people, coyotes sometimes the fox than a wolf. howls can be heard. Family associate people with food (garbage, cat food, etc.). In these The eastern coyote will eat groups are often very vocal during the spring, summer, and cases, coyotes may end up living small rodents, plants, fruit, deer, around suburban neighborhoods snowshoe hare, cottontail, rabbits, fall while feeding and training the pups. The coyote has a and can be perceived as a woodchucks, insects, small birds, problem. When wildlife and and grouse. At certain times of the characteristic, high-pitched howl ending with a series of yips. It will human conflicts arise, more often year, deer meat can be a than note, wildlife loses. significant portion of its diet. sometimes also bark. Although a coyote may kill a fawn Coyotes are extremely The population of eastern or deer in deep snow, it will also adaptable and exist in all habitats coyotes in Vermont fluctuates readily eat the carcass of a dead in Vermont including places between 1,300 and 3,000 in the deer and other dead animals. Deer where suburban and rural areas winter months and 3,300 to 5,000 numbers are carefully monitored, overlap. Part of the reason for the during the spring, summer, and and there is no indication that amazing success of coyotes is their fall pup-rearing period. Many coyotes are negatively influencing incredible adaptability to human juveniles disperse in the fall while deer populations in Vermont. changes in the landscape. others may stay with their family group well into their second year. The varied diet of the coyote In Vermont, coyote family allows it to survive and readily groups have an average home Mortality adapt. Part of the success of the range size of 15 square miles, but Although little is known about coyote in Vermont may be will focus most of their activity the mortality factors of young attributed directly to the heavy within a smaller core area of 5 to coyotes, several studies have losses of deer in winter. In all 10 square miles. The habitat shown that between birth and one animals, high nutritional intake within their home range may year, as many as 50-68% die. results in a higher number of include forested areas of both Adult mortality rates are lower. healthier young. The combina- hardwood and softwood trees, Several diseases and parasites can tion of deer carrion during winter open areas (pasture and field), affect coyote survival including and a wide variety of other foods wetlands, and developed areas. heartworm, distemper, canine during the rest of the year has Although coyotes are habitat

Eastern Coyote Fact Sheet ♦ 2 hepatitis, sarcoptic mange, and coyote sightings and occasionally Coyotes are also a renewable occasionally rabies. dead coyotes in Vermont natural resource and the increased noticeably in the 1960s utilization of these animals is History and early 1970s. The eastern appropriate as long as their The timber wolf disappeared coyote population has since population remains viable. from Vermont in the late 1800s. become well established and relatively stable. In Vermont, coyotes can be Because the timber wolf fed taken by hunting at any time almost entirely on hoofed prey In Yellowstone National Park, during the year. There is a heavily such as deer, moose, and caribou, where the wolf had been -regulated trapping season that the loss of this animal from extirpated for many of the same begins the fourth Saturday in Vermont resulted in a lack of reasons it was eliminated in the October and runs through predation on these species. rest of the country, coyote December 31st. The coyote is not a Vermont populations flourished. Recently, wolf packs were reintroduced in Coyote furs are presently a native; coyotes were virtually valuable renewable natural unknown east of Wisconsin at the the park in an attempt to restore this top member of the food chain. resource, bringing between $12 turn of the century. As European and $30 a pelt. With practice and settlers moved westward, clearing Once established, wolves in Yellowstone competed with patience, a unique form of the forests and eliminating the hunting can be experienced with wolf, the coyote, a much more coyotes for food and even killed and ate them. The coyote coyotes. They can be called into adaptable canine, moved close range with a game call that eastward. Researchers believe that population dropped by almost 50% in the area. The loss of one imitates the distress squeal of a these coyotes may have bred with rabbit. the few scattered wolves that predator often results in the remained in southern Ontario. A increase in population of another Certain groups would like to small amount of wolf ancestry predator. This has been witnessed decrease and even eliminate the would explain the larger size of in Vermont. Since coyotes became coyote population. While coyotes our present-day eastern coyote. established here naturally, bobcat kill other animals to eat and Recent DNA testing has shown numbers have declined in survive, including an occasional that northeastern coyotes do in Vermont. deer, they should not be subjected fact have some wolf ancestry. to an extermination program. Coyotes fill the role of a natural There is some question as to predator, a role that is important whether coyote-dog hybrids, also for maintaining the dynamics and called ‘coy dogs’, have health of our ecosystems. contributed any genes to the Expensive extermination and overall coyote population. There bounty programs were common may have been some in the past and were responsible, hybridization with dogs when along with habitat loss, for the coyotes first arrived in Vermont Current Management elimination of natural predators because coyote numbers were Efforts throughout the United States. low. However, coyote-dog These techniques have no place in hybrids have breeding cycles that The Fish & Wildlife Depart- modern wildlife management, would result in pups being born ment recognizes that people have which stresses the important of all in the middle of winter. In many differing views on the value species. addition, male coy dogs do not of predators. We believe, assist in caring for their young. however, that coyotes are Therefore, it is unlikely that wild important members of the coy dog populations ever became ecosystem and have evolved established. together with many of nature’s Vermont’s first true coyote existing prey species. appeared in 1948. Since then, Conservation of the coyote is coyotes have completed the important to maintaining eastward expansion of their range ecosystem integrity because of the to the Atlantic Ocean. Reports of vital role they play as predators.

Eastern Coyote Fact Sheet ♦ 3