Did you know… Animals - Coyotes • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
Coyotes have excellent vision and a great sense of smell. Coyotes are very good swimmers. Coyotes rarely build their own dens. They usually take over an abandoned one. Dogs run with their tails up; coyotes run with their tails down. Coyotes can run about 40 miles an hour. Coyotes are found in most of the United States and Canada and some of Mexico. Coyotes mate for life and are monogamous. Coyotes raise their young as a couple or within a larger pack. Coyote parents are very protective of the young and move the pups to new dens if they feel the original is unsafe. Coyotes are by far the most vocal wild mammals in North America. Researchers have identified 11 different vocalizations: growl, huff, woof, bark, bark-howl, lone howl, group yip-howl, whine, group howl, greeting songs, yelps. Coyotes use their vocalizations to communicate with others in their family group or pack and communicate territory to animals outside the pack. Coyotes are most closely related to gray wolves. Coyotes are excellent jumpers. When jumping horizontally they can clear distances up to 13 feet. Coyotes have long fur that is brownish red, grey or white. Coyotes have a bushy tail like a fox. Labeled "wily" by humans, coyotes are intelligent and versatile creatures.
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