Winter Guest Animal - Coyotes
In the Guest Animal habitat from November 27 - May 23
Featured guests at the Museum this winter are a pair of non-native coyotes, housed in the Guest Animal habitat in conjunction with the Museum’s Alien Attack exhibit, based in the neighboring Phipps Gallery. These exhibits focus on alien species that have invaded the Southeast, causing considerable environmental harm to many areas, including the Florida Everglades.
Humans introduced coyotes, which are native to the western United States, into Florida in 1925 for hunting with dogs. By the 1970s, the coyote’s own natural migration into new ranges allowed it to become well established in the southeastern U.S. and abundant in Florida and Georgia. It also has made itself at home in Central America and Canada.
The COYOTE:
Are coyotes native to Florida?
No, the coyote was introduced by humans into Florida from the western United States.
Are coyotes related to dogs?
Yes. They are in the genus Canis, which includes jackals, wolves and domesticated dogs. Coyotes can breed with wolves and dogs.
Do coyotes have territories?
Coyotes maintain territories of about 10 to 12 square miles, which they mark with their urine.
What characteristics make the coyote a successful survivor?
Coyotes adapt to a wide range of habitats, wild and urban, because they can change their social and hunting habits to fit their habitat. Coyotes consume a variety of foods, unlike larger predators whose specialized diets make them vulnerable to food shortages. They are skilled hunters with a keen sense of smell and excellent hearing, moving their ears in many directions to detect sounds. A single coyote hunts by stalking and pouncing. When two or more coyotes hunt together, they chase and ambush the prey. Coyotes can run up to 40 mph and scale 8-foot fences in pursuit of prey.
Coyotes are very secretive and are most active at night and early in the morning. Variations in color and size help the coyote adapt. They are larger and darker in colder climates, smaller and lighter-colored in the desert.
Do coyotes have competitors or predators?
Bobcats, foxes, and prey birds compete with coyotes for small prey. Pumas and gray wolves prey on coyotes, and smaller predators prey on coyote pups. Settlers and farmers killed coyotes to protect their livestock.
Are coyotes solitary animals, or do they live in groups?
Both. An adult may live alone, and adults may spend several years together raising o_spring as a family unit. The typical pack is an alpha male and an alpha female with juveniles and new pups, a grouping similar to that of red wolf packs.
How do coyotes communicate?
- Howling: Used to invite females and warn males; a way of avoiding conflict.
- Yelping: Used to criticize or show happiness; heard frequently when pups are playing.
- Barking: Used to protect a den or food.
- Huffing: Used to quietly call pups.
- Growling, wailing and squealing.
How have people interacted with coyotes?
The coyote is a Native American mythological figure often portrayed as a trickster. The coyote character may also appear as inventive,evasive or clownish. Some communities see the coyote as a threat to livestock and pets. Biologists report that coyotes help control rodent populations and do not have a lasting effect on other wildlife populations. Biologists and environmentalists agree in the elimination of individual animals that kill livestock.
How are the stories of the coyote and red wolf related?
The wild red wolf population reached critically low numbers due to extirpation. The risk of losing the species because of crossbreeding with coyotes (and feral dogs) was one of the deciding factors in the creation of the Red Wolf Captive Breeding Program by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The Tallahassee Museum has participated in this program since 1988.
The Tallahassee Museum Guest Animal is sponsored in part by:
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