| know your enemy... |
In Pennsylvania, eastern coyotes have become more common than black bears, bobcats and otters over the past 30 years...
...don't expect to see or hear one. This secretive canine prefers to operate under the cover of darkness...
The word coydog is used to describe a coyote-domestic dog hybrid. Coydogs were once believed to be found in good numbers in Pennsylvania, especially when our once-expanding coyote population was thought to be having difficulty finding same-species mates...
...under the cover of darkness, as human activities slow almost to a halt, coyotes sneak into areas
they normally avoid during daylight hours. They canvass agricultural fields, visit picnic sites and
backyards in rural areas, and work the waysides of interstate highways in their quest for food.
Most people bump into coyotes while hunting, hiking or driving at night...
Barring the black bear, it's the state's largest predatory animal. That should be enough reason for anyone to give this animal due respect...
Coyotes are opportunists. They do no more than necessary to obtain food and they'll eat almost
anything...
...coyotes kill what they need and leave with it. But on occasion they seem to go on killing sprees.
The coyote has the appearance of a medium-sized dog or a small German Shepherd...
The coyote is capable of producing fertile offspring with
many other animals from the dog family. It occasionally breeds
with the domestic dog, wild dogs, and wolves...
More often you will hear a coyote rather than see one. Its howl can be very deceiving. Due to the way the sound carries, it seems as though it is in one place, where the coyote is really some place else...
