Awooooo! This month, Bill and Steve talk all about coyotes.
This episode takes place at Franklin Gulf County Park in North Collins, NY. It was recorded on April 1, 2020.
Episode Notes:
Bill did a poor job explaining the taxonomy of the Canis genus, leaving listeners unclear on how many species are in the genus, as opposed to subspecies. There are seven extant species in Canis - 3 species of wolf, one species of coyote, and 3 species of jackal. Each of these species contains at least one subspecies. Wikipedia gives a good overview of the genus.
Bill also did a poor job of explaining to Steve about fission and fusion society. Steve seemed to come away thinking that coyotes joined together in groups (fusion) at night and then broke apart to hunt during the day (fission). In fact, whether in groups or living as an individual, coyotes likely remain so for extended periods of time, with groups breaking up or coming together only when ongoing environmental conditions prompt the fission or fusion behavior.
Questions that came up during the episode:
1. What does the species epithet lupus mean in the scientific name of the gray wolf (Canis lupus)?
This is an easy one - it’s from the late 16th century: from Latin, literally ‘wolf’. So Canis lupus means ‘wolf dog’. We know, not very exciting.
2. Around the 17 minute mark, when Bill was discussing when wolves and coyotes might hybridize, he said that it can happen when coyotes or wolves are at the edge of their territories, when what he meant was that it can happen when they are at the edge of their range. At the edge of a coyote’s territory, it’s probable that another coyote’s territory is adjacent, making mating with another species unlikely, since a potential coyote mate is nearby. At the edge of their range, however, it’s more likely that they’ll have a hard time finding a member of their own species to mate with, making a mating between species a more likely, although still extremely rare, occurrence.
3. When is coyote hunting season in NY State?
Bill was wrong on this one. Coyote hunting season is open in most of NY state from Oct.-Mar., which makes sense because it avoids the time of year when pups are around.
Links:
Sponsorship of this episode provided by Gumleaf Boots, USA
Free shipping offer code for Patreon supporters: TFG2019
As always, check out Always Wandering Art (Website and Etsy Shop), who usually provides the artwork for our episodes!
Work Cited:
Bekoff, M. and Wells, M.C., 1980. The social ecology of coyotes. Scientific American, 242(4), pp.130-151.
Bragina, E.V., Kays, R., Hody, A., Moorman, C.E., Deperno, C.S. and Mills, L.S., 2019. Effects on white‐tailed deer following eastern coyote colonization. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 83(4), pp.916-924.
Gese, E., 2005. Demographic and spatial responses of coyotes to changes in food and exploitation.
Henke, S.E. and Bryant, F.C., 1994. Coyote condition and reproduction in response to a reduction in population density. Texas Journal of Agriculture and Natural Resources, 7, pp.23-34.
Henke, S.E., Pence, D.B. and Bryant, F.C., 2002. Effect of short-term coyote removal on populations of coyote helminths. Journal of wildlife diseases, 38(1), pp.54-67.
Hody, J.W. and Kays, R., 2018. Mapping the expansion of coyotes (Canis latrans) across North and Central America. ZooKeys, (759), p.81.
Keys, Roland, 2015, Yes, eastern coyotes are hybrids, but the ‘coywolf’ is not a thing, viewed 15 January 2020, < https://theconversation.com/yes-eastern-coyotes-are-hybrids-but-the-coywolf-is-not-a-thing-50368>.
Mastro, L.L., Gese, E.M., Young, J.K. and Shivik, J.A., 2012. What do we know? A literature review of the eastern coyote.
National Park Service, 2019. Species Spotlight: Eastern Coyote, viewed 24 March 2020, <https://irma.nps.gov/Datastore/DownloadFile/630170>
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, undated, Watchable Wildlife: Eastern Coyote, viewed 24 March 2020, <https://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/9359.html>.
Robinson, K.F., Diefenbach, D.R., Fuller, A.K., Hurst, J.E. and Rosenberry, C.S., 2014. Can managers compensate for coyote predation of white‐tailed deer?. The Journal of Wildlife Management, 78(4), pp.571-579.
Rutherford, S., 2018. The Anthropocene’s animal? Coywolves as feral cotravelers. Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space, 1(1-2), pp.206-223.
Way, J.G. and Lynn, W.S., 2016. Northeastern coyote/coywolf taxonomy and admixture: A meta-analysis. Canid Biology & Conservation, 19(1), pp.1-7.
Way, Jonathan G., 2016, Why the eastern coyote should be a separate species: ‘the coywolf’, viewed 15 March 2020, <https://theconversation.com/why-the-eastern-coyote-should-be-a-separate-species-the-coywolf-59214>.