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..The coyote is the size and shape of a small shepherd dog, about 4 feet in length with a full, black-tipped tail 14 inches long. Weights are 30 to 40 pounds. Their long hair varies in color with geography and season from pale grayish buff to rich reddish brown. The ears are rusty red behind.
Coyotes live in every state, and in many areas are quite common. They thrive despite widespread attempts to control or eradicate them because of their alleged attacks on livestock. Individuals may be very bold, coming to poorly managed garbage dumps where carcasses of poultry or livestock are discarded. Coyotes eat plants and meat. On a hunting circuit three or four miles long, they forage for birds, eggs, mice, rabbits, carrion of large wild mammals or livestock and occasional insects and fruit - in short, just about anything organic.
They are active day or night, but mostly at dawn and dusk. Females breed just once annually, in January to March, and produce a litter of abo
ut six pups after a gestation period of nine weeks. The expectant female burrows up to 20 feet into a hillside or bank to prepare a nursery den for the young, and frequently digs a second burrow in case the litter is disturbed in the first. The male brings food to the nursing mother. The young weigh only about 9 ounces at birth, but develop rapidly and are weaned at 7 weeks. As they mature, pups spend much time and energy in aggressive interactions with littermates that eventually influence their social position. Coyotes may live up to 20 years, but 10 years is a rough average.
From 1915 to 1947, bounties were paid on 1,884,897 coyotes in the United States, on 294,000 in 1946 alone. The animals have been shot from a
irplanes, injected with chemicals, trapped, run down with snowmobiles and buried alive in dens. The result of this extermination effort is surprising. Coyotes have actually expanded their range in North America. Courtesy of Colorado Division of Wildlife
Rodney says, "The Coyote is my cousin. He is a survivor and has thrived in urban areas."
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