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Coyotes Conquered North America. Now They’re Heading South
- loufe 8y agoI like the question posed at the end of the article: should humans interpret this as a natural expansion or an invasive species. It's hard to tell, that's for sure.
- awat 8y agoBig question that’s applicable to lots of things. Not convinced humans are that good at answering it.
- trhway 8y ago>should humans interpret this as a natural expansion or an invasive species. well, for starters, how would humans interpret themselves? >They thrived, in part, because of increasing forest fragmentation and agricultural lands along with the annihilation of predators like wolves, cougars and jaguars. sounds like an invasive species [of humans] cleared path for natural expansion of coyotes.
- labster 8y agoPlease, let's not start another immigration debate here.
- R_haterade 8y agoLabster, what's going on, big guy?
- aristocles 8y agoYou think im going to invite you into my beautiful liberal website, start a circle jerk, so I can throw your ideology through a table?
- Piskvorrr 8y agoWait, they're crossing the Darien gap? o_O
- jonathanoliver 8y agoAccording to the Road Runner cartoon shorts on Looney Tunes, at least one coyote has taken over the southwest American desert. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wile_E._Coyote_and_the_Road_Runner https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wile_E._Coyote_and_the_Road_Ru...
- psetq 8y agoAnd even before "Looney Tunes", coyotes (including wily ones) were part of the folklore of many Native American cultures in the Southwest US and Mexico. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyote_(mythology)#By_culture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyote_(mythology)#By_culture
- wavefunction 8y agoThe explosion in the coyote population (like deer and elk) is driven by the lack of their natural predator, the wolf. I am a big fan of both coyotes and wolves but we wouldn't have much of a coyote situation in North America had the populations of wolves not been so drastically reduced. That's likely what's allowing the coyote the freedom to travel to South America.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- burfog 8y agoA century ago, both coyotes and wolves were kept in check by humans. Humans lived mostly on farms, not in cities. People carried guns. It was normal and expected that a person would shoot a dangerous predator. As things stand now, we're going to have coyotes and wolves everywhere. They will be in city parks, eating the garbage and pigeons and raccoons. City dwellers don't normally shoot predators; it would be weird and would likely result in an arrest. Small and frail people (children included) won't be safe alone, as they had been for a couple centuries.
- Brockenstein 8y ago>A century ago, both coyotes and wolves were kept in check by humans Annihilated the population, FTFY. >As things stand now, we're going to have coyotes and wolves everywhere. They will be in city parks, eating the garbage and pigeons and raccoons. City dwellers don't normally shoot predators; it would be weird and would likely result in an arrest. Small and frail people (children included) won't be safe alone, as they had been for a couple centuries. Not likely. You forget about Animal Control? And if populations ever were to become a problem you think city dwellers are too helpless and stupid to do anything about it? Like increase the animal control budget... Your lack of imagination doesn't project onto reality very well I'mm sorry to say.
- soundwave106 8y agoUnlike the wolf, coyotes have thrived in part because they have adapted excellently to urban environments. (https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/160418-animals-urban-cities-wildlife-science-coyotes/ https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/04/160418-animals-u...) City dwellers generally don't (in general) shoot animal pests for pretty obvious reasons: in the close quarters of the city, mistakes may have much greater impact. Coyotes rarely attack people; even unarmed, I'd bet on the 150lb adult human over the 30lb coyote in any 1-on-1 fight, and humans often have other clever tricks up their sleeves (including weapons but also beyond that). Generally speaking coyotes avoid people as much as possible. They are IMHO wise to do so. The main impact of coyote urbanization on most people IMHO is that it is much less safe to have an "outdoors cat" or any other free-roaming pet. Which is why animal control departments from what I see don't pay much mind to urban coyotes, it is not that big of a problem. As another poster says, if it became a big problem, resources could be directed to control the coyote.
- ridgeguy 8y agoCoyotes come through and rip up our plastic irrigation feed lines every year (Bay Area, Peninsula hills). No mystery, they need water. I've had "replace plastic with steel lines" on my to-do list since 2014, but haven't had the heart to cut off their water supply. That, and laziness. They've been around my home far longer than I have, so I guess I'm the invasive species. I'm grateful they've traded access to water for snacking on my dog.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- R_haterade 8y agoYour outlook on the human prerogative for mastery of his environment is absolutely fascinating to me.
- yial 8y ago"Don’t believe the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first." loosely related
- Ygg2 8y agoConsequently, "You don't owe world anything. Tame it to your whim."
- gerbilly 8y agoI think it's rather: "The world and you both owe each other things."
- nkrisc 8y agoAnd suffer the consequences, good or bad. Tame it wisely.
- rainbowmverse 8y agoThe Dust Bowl was among the many times nature called humanity on its hubris.
- bfuller 8y agoI live in a metropolitan area that has creeks feeding a river that flows through the city. I see coyotes regularly. Its an interesting thing seeing wild life in urban areas.
- HankB99 8y agoIndeed. In one of my podcasts a biologist described studying a female coyote that lived in downtown Chicago traveling between several parks in the wee hours. IIRC he tracked her for a couple years until the tracking collar fell off. For several years after that some folks who knew he was watching them sent him surveillance video of her passing by. She even raised a litter one year. We're in the far western 'burbs (DuPage county) and regularly see them on our morning runs. One morning a large one crossed the street about 50' in front of us just as we turned from our drive into the street. It never looked our way but had to know we were there.
- iamthepieman 8y agoUsed to love playing with the coyotes in the Rural northeast as a bored teenager. MY brother and I would crouch in the long grass in a 300 acre hilly field and see how close we could get to the coyotes. I don’t think We were sneaking up on them, they just didn’t see us as a threat. Once there were 4 rather than the usual one or two and they started circling us which was both amazing and nerve-wracking. Eventually we stood up and waved our arms and they loped off at a very unconcerned pace.
- stevenwoo 8y agoSome of them just do not see humans as a threat. This one in unincorporated Cupertino walked at me for a quarter of a mile and then walked past me. https://www.flickr.com/photos/swoo/8590438705 https://www.flickr.com/photos/swoo/8590438705 There's one in La Honda for at least a few years that does not move when I go past on the road, it just sits in the road and makes people move around it.
- saagarjha 8y agoThey seem to like to come out of the wilderness at night and howl. I didn't realize that they were this brazen, though!
- nkrisc 8y agoIn Chicago I had a particularly fat one saunter right past me, a few feet away, before dashing across a busy four lane street into a cemetery. He was clearly not fazed by me, or traffic, at all. (It was across Western, for anyone wondering) There was also this famous incident of a coyote who casually walked into a Quiznos in Lincoln Park and cooled off in the drink cooler: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWTttvImgnQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWTttvImgnQ
- JoeDaDude 8y agoThe "flexible" mating habits of the coyote, leading to the Coywolf, have led some to call them a new species appearing right before our eyes. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/coywolves-are-taking-over-eastern-north-america-180957141/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/coywolves-are-taki...
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- rainbowmverse 8y agoSome of my favorite people are coyotes. They get a little rowdy, but they're good conversationalists otherwise.