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Coyotes Poised to Infiltrate South America

smithsonianmag.com

41–50 of 66 posts

Re: Coyotes Poised to Infiltrate South America

#41

In my island province here in Canada the biggest animal was the red fox (vulpes vulpes) until about ten years ago. Then suddenly coyotes appeared seemingly overnight. It drove foxes into the towns and cities or killed them off in rural areas. It's amazing to witness such a sudden change although I've read they arrived in 1983. It's very densely populated here but also rural it's many small towns spread out plus two b…

> One woman in Cape Breton was killed by Coywolves when she was out for a walk in a wooded area

Yes, this did occur and it was a tragedy. But worth keeping things in perspective: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyote_attack

Three fatal attacks recorded in the last 100 years. And so few non-fatal attacks that the wikipedia page can list nearly all of them. Even the attack you mention, Taylor Mitchell, it sounds as though this was one particular pair of animals that were far more aggressive than typical.

Coyotes are generally big cowards. They're successful in the anthropocene because they stay out of sight and mind.

Coywolves are more dangerous, perhaps, but we should keep things in perspective about how dangerous we're talking about. If they were ten times more deadly than coyotes, they'd still be a orders of magnitude less dangerous than sharks, bees, and lightning. (All of which are unfathomably less dangerous than drunk drivers).

Re: Coyotes Poised to Infiltrate South America

#43
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you may consider this: https://www.coyotevest.com/collections/all

Not sure about this. Doesn't seem very comfortable for the dog. I added another layer of chickenwire to the fence that went outward so the coyote would not only have to jump up but then also to get over an overhang.No problems since then and cost maybe $50 and a few hours of work.

i'm glad to hear it's working out

Re: Coyotes Poised to Infiltrate South America

#44
post #35

Other than eating the occasional housecat (which is bad) Coyotes, in general, seem like good partners for our current urban/suburban life. They make hidden dens in our parks, like to eat rats and other small rodents and are scared of dogs and households. https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2010/12/08/131876027/6...

Out here (Southern California) they definitely eat cats and small dogs.

Yep. Every time I see a lost cat poster, I wonder what the owner's thinking. There was even a lost dog poster in my neighborhood stating outright that the dog got snatched by a coyote.

Re: Coyotes Poised to Infiltrate South America

#45

Other than eating the occasional housecat (which is bad) Coyotes, in general, seem like good partners for our current urban/suburban life. They make hidden dens in our parks, like to eat rats and other small rodents and are scared of dogs and households. https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2010/12/08/131876027/6...

They eat chickens that people keep, kill other pets, they're basically a nuisance species in North America. Here's it's perfectly legal to shoot them year-round. And, you can cull up to 50% of the population before you would have any effect on them.

Yeah, where my dad lives in rural kentucky, they actually paid you for each coyote you killed. Not sure if that's still the case, though.

Re: Coyotes Poised to Infiltrate South America

#46

In my island province here in Canada the biggest animal was the red fox (vulpes vulpes) until about ten years ago. Then suddenly coyotes appeared seemingly overnight. It drove foxes into the towns and cities or killed them off in rural areas. It's amazing to witness such a sudden change although I've read they arrived in 1983. It's very densely populated here but also rural it's many small towns spread out plus two b…

I think your zoology is a bit off and the type of coyotes you refer to, and the behaviors you describe are pretty much standard issue for any coyote pack.

C. latrans is the species of coyote - there are subspecies beyond this, but the Coywolf is not one of them.

Coywolf simply refers to the phenotype observed when coyotes and wolves interbreed - this can happen anywhere between all of the wolve and coyote subspecies. Coywolves are almost “one offs” (breeding pair hooked up by chance). Many wolves also have coyote DNA.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coywolf

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyote

Re: Coyotes Poised to Infiltrate South America

#47

Other than eating the occasional housecat (which is bad) Coyotes, in general, seem like good partners for our current urban/suburban life. They make hidden dens in our parks, like to eat rats and other small rodents and are scared of dogs and households. https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2010/12/08/131876027/6...

oh, you're serious.

hacker news is such a bubble.

Re: Coyotes Poised to Infiltrate South America

#49
post #41

In my island province here in Canada the biggest animal was the red fox (vulpes vulpes) until about ten years ago. Then suddenly coyotes appeared seemingly overnight. It drove foxes into the towns and cities or killed them off in rural areas. It's amazing to witness such a sudden change although I've read they arrived in 1983. It's very densely populated here but also rural it's many small towns spread out plus two b…

> One woman in Cape Breton was killed by Coywolves when she was out for a walk in a wooded area Yes, this did occur and it was a tragedy. But worth keeping things in perspective: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyote_attack Three fatal attacks recorded in the last 100 years. And so few non-fatal attacks that the wikipedia page can list nearly all of them. Even the attack you mention, Taylor Mitchell, it sounds as thou…

> we should keep things in perspective about how dangerous we're talking about. If they were ten times more deadly than coyotes, they'd still be a orders of magnitude less dangerous than sharks, bees, and lightning.

Sharks are an illustrative example. They're pretty dangerous if you encounter them. But doing that is fully optional; no one's ever run into a shark by accident. If you live near wolves, you can run into them even though you didn't want to.

Realistically, your risk from sharks is exactly zero unless you're going out of your way to inflate it. It's not honest to claim that sharks are more dangerous than coywolves -- and once you've realized that, you realize that you need to adjust risk estimates based on what you're exposed to.

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