Western verses Eastern Coyotes

Today as I was driving home from town I saw a full grown, male eastern coyote standing at the edge of a country road. It looked at my car and easily loped a few feet back the direction it had come from. Throwing its head over one shoulder and then the other as it crisscrossed its mild gate to keep an eye on my car, which had slowed to a mere crawl. He was as large as a small German Sheppard with a long bushy winter tail and a tawny ruffled coat from the swift breeze that blew across the barren fields. His head was typically small for coyotes compared to his lean body. He also had that familiar nervousness in his manner that you do not see much in other large wild canines.

I know many with an untrained eye who would have mistaken the tall eastern coyote for a wolf. But the eastern coyote is not wolf. To those who know what to look for they do not even look like wolf. The wolf is narrow chested and tall with a large head and rounded ears. Its feet are quite massive compared to its thin legs. It has an easy lope and a very aware disposition that does not reflect the nervousness of the coyote. Normally its coat has longer hairs that can be seen in the smooth melding of color patterns along its sides, unlike the coyote that carries shorter hairs and holds more of a ruffed look.

There are many more distinct variations between coyotes and wolves, but for the untrained eye the ones I listed are hard enough to spot in the wild. One such difference is the large amount of sweet glands found in the paws of western coyotes and most dogs that can be seen in their track readings. Wolves and eastern coyotes with high wolf genetics lack this high density of paw sweet glands.

The interesting thing is that most people think that a coyote is a coyote no matter if it lives in the west or in the east of America. This is actually not completely truth. Today there are about 19 or 20 subspeices of coyote. They from America to Canada, Mexico and even Central America!

There is a noticeable difference between western American coyotes and eastern coyotes. The western coyote is normally far smaller that it’s eastern counterpart. Where the eastern coyote can gain the size of a German Sheppard the western coyote rarely gets more than 35 pounds. Many western coyotes are between 15 and 45 pounds. Northern (Canada) and eastern coyotes can reach 70 pounds! The western coyotes have a brain size much like a dog of its own size, which is far smaller and narrower than a wolf’s. Interestingly the eastern coyote tends to have a wider jaw, taller legs and a heavier body than its western cousin. The reason for this is because when the western coyote began migrating east a long time ago they on occasion mated with wolves. Now the mating with wolves is not nearly as common as coyotes mating with dogs. The wolf in general is quite hostile towards the coyote which obviously prevents wide scale interbreeding. Down south the coyote and dog mate quite often creating the Coydog. But like I said, this is not so much the case with the wolf. Needless to say the coyote and wolf did mix from time to time as the coyote pushed east creating a new breed, the Coywolf. This is where much of the eastern coyote’s looks came from. This is why they have wider jaws, taller legs and a heavier body, because many of them have wolf DNA…less than about 40% wolf DNA.

This is enough to have caused the eastern coyote to gain a much different look than the wolf and also give the wolf a bad rap. The coyote is more of an opportunistic creature than the wolf, which is why the wolf’s domain has dramatically shrunk with advancing civilization and the coyotes has grown vastly. It is also one reason the wolf does not like the coyote. It is kind of like the ancient feud between the Samurai and the Ninja. The Samurai lived by a strict set of ideals where as the Ninja were those who came out of Samurai ranks and lived more as renegade mercenaries, working for the highest payer. Maybe that is not the best analogy, but it is the first one that came to mind.

Nonetheless that behavior has given the coyote a serious advantage over the wolf, even in the wolf’s own domain. When the western and northern coyotes moved east across Canada they began to mate with wolves from time to time. This leads me to an interesting fact about coyotes found in places in the Northeast like Maine. Some coyotes found in such places contain over half wolf genetics! This of course is the leftover genetics that mixed decades back when the western coyote migration east took place.

Studies today show very little inbreeding between coyotes and wolves. It seemed most prevalent during the major migration period a good many years ago. Even with this interbreeding rare these days the wolf genetic percentage remains in many eastern (mainly Northeastern) coyotes that carries on to their offspring and creates their much larger appearance.

The western coyote can do quite well for itself near human populations or far away, unlike the wolf which requires large amounts of wild land. The eastern coyote has kept this western trait and does not seem to mind living near and even amongst human population. Since the eastern coyote is larger than its western cousin it can be more aggressive and take down larger game like deer. If food becomes scarce they have been known to attack humans and dogs. However, this is not a “normal” trait because it takes far more energy expenditure to take such prey than it is worth. Like all wild living creatures the coyote also looks to gain as much as possible while expending the smallest amount of energy. It is the natural law of conserving energy and thus resources for the means of survival. Unfortunately this action in times of dire need has done nothing to assist the popularity of the eastern coyote among humans. But are humans exempt of such traits? I think not. Just look at how many creatures, including our own kind we kill, maim and torture every day across the globe. The majority we do not even eat, we just kill. At least the coyote eats what it kills and thus kills to survive. You look at the statistics of humans killed by coyotes and you will see it is so low it is hardly worth mentioning. Far more people are maimed and killed by domestic dogs every year than ever have been by coyotes. And many people keep dogs as pets and allow them to live in their homes! Yet the coyote is targeted a feared by many. Why? Because of the severe emotional imbalance born from the spread of lies and ignorance.

Perhaps it is time to look with nonjudgmental eyes and minds at the true beauty and required placement of the coyote upon the earth? Perhaps it is time to see how much of the coyote’s ways live within the human species and the many lessons they can teach those who wish to learn? They like so many other wild creatures have become scapegoats for many people. Maybe it is time to take responsibility for your own actions and stop placing blame where it does not belong? The coyote is not the enemy of humans. Imbalanced minds and emotions are the enemy of humans. Do your own self healing work and let the coyote be.

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One Response to “ Western verses Eastern Coyotes ”

1. Ciaran Rooney Says:
   January 27th, 2012 at 9:49 am

   ”Imbalanced minds and emotions are the enemy of humans.” Great words! Ironicly the Wolf passing on it’s genes to the Coyote has given the Coyote the advantage.

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