Page 25 - 2002 DT 12 issues

Wha t’s Insi d e !

Featured Articles
The Coyote—Ultimate Survivor..................1

The Masters of Gardening..........................6

Departments
News & Notes............................................2
April 2002 Programs & Hikes.......................................4

Desk Schedule...........................................6
Bulletin Board.............................................8

te
The Coyote— ○ Although he clearly prefers meat (car- German Shepherd or Doberman would,
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○ rion, too)—rabbits, rodents, chickens, however, be a poor choice on the menu
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tobe coyote is in ther
Ultimate Surviv o ○ frogs and other small creatures—he will for the typical coyote, weighing per-
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by Chuck Kleber ○ ○ readily dine on berries, beans and seeds. haps 30-35 pounds. Our wily predator
first
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And life can be short for any small calf may not have many friends on his side,
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“Oh carry me back to the lone prairie ○ ○ ○
novel by a Native
Where the coyotes howl ○ ○ or lamb that gets separated from but surely we can feel some compassion
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American.
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And the wind blows free . . . .” ○ ○ a group. ○ for this wild creature who has survived so
Cousin to both the wolf and our do- magnificently against the odds. And
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Humishuma, an ○ mestic dog, the coyote ranges in size haven’t you felt just a little bit sorry for
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o goes the famous western song, ○ ○
Okanogan from the ○ from 25 to 75 pounds with the larger Wile E. Coyote in his always-fruitless
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and if survivability is any
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○ ones found in northern, higher regions. efforts to make a meal out of Roadrunner.
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S measuring stick, the coyote has
Pacific
much to gleefully howl about. The buf- ○ ○ If you count his By the way, there is a
Northwest, wrote
falo, wolf, grizzly bear, mountain lion ○ ○ bushy tail, he can Wile E. Coyote Fan
○ measure up to five Club...really .
and others have been “endangered spe- ○
Cogowea,
cies.” Not so with canis latrans. Shot, ○ ○ feet in length. At Females hold the
the Half-Blood, in
trapped, poisoned—it doesn’t matter to ○ ○ night, when he cards in a coyote’s love
○ normally prefers life. A female will
the wily coyote. Originally his range
1927 and then followed ○ to hunt, his yellow choose one mate from
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was west of the Mississippi, but he has ○
it with Coyote Stories
now spread east to every state. We ex- ○ eyes take on a several suitors. Typi-
○ greenish-gold tint. cally, six to nine pups
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pect to see him in Red Rock Canyon . . .
in 1933, a
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but New York City’s Central Park? ○ His double-coat will be born in the spring
collection of tales
Yes, he has even been spotted there. ○ ○ protects him in all after a two month gesta-
○ sorts of weather tion period. The parents
Stockmen, particularly sheepmen, ○
about
have long viewed the coyote as the ○ ○ and terrain; rough will tutor them for several
the sly trickster who
killer of livestock—a tenacious and ○ hairs at the tips weeks in how to be a wise
○ and a layer of warm insulation under- coyote before they are left to set out on
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deadly enemy deserving of extermination. ○ ○
opened the land to
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But many other groups and individuals hold ○ neath. The coyote has sort of a gray-tan their own. Wolves and coyotes may
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Indians by slaying
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a different view. David Lavender, the appearance with reddish tinges on the legs share some similarities, but they are tra-
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historian, was raised in the West on a ○ and ears. And those pointed ears are just ○ ○ ditional enemies. Of course, the wolf
monsters. With
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ranch. He maintained that coyotes were ○ part of the acutely responsive senses that ○ ○ has a sharp advantage by his size, and
all the damnation
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actually friends of cattlemen and ○ make the coyote such a formidable adver- ○ he is inevitably found in a pack. You
sheepmen since they killed rodents and ○ sary. There is no fat on this hunter who ○ ○ may see a pair of coyotes together—per-
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hurled at
insects that eat the grass cattle and sheep ○ has quite incredible endurance; he ○ ○ haps more—but they do not normally
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him, our little “critter,”
rely on for food. But he reckoned it ○ can lope for hours at a steady pace. ○ hunt in packs. Where wolves are
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was “whistling in the wind” to put this ○ ○ Smaller pets frequently fall victim ○
“varmint” call him what
aspect before ranchers. In fact, the ○ to coyotes as they increasingly appear ○ ○
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coyote will eat most anything. ○ in populated areas. Your Rottweiler, ○ ○ The Coyote, continued on page 7