
Coyotes Poised to Infiltrate South America - pseudolus
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/coyotes-infiltrate-south-america-180974016/
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dghughes
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 bigger cities. Coyotes were easily spotted since they
stood out compared to a fox or even a dog.

It's not really a true coyote it's canis latrans or the "eastern coyote", or
"coywolf". They're bigger than a true coyote, they're smarter, and they live
in packs of a dozen.

The Coywolf is also more dangerous than a coyote or wolf. There are reports
from people who were out walking and upon seeing a large dog they turned back
around. When walking back they discovered they were being herded into a trap
of several Coywolves. One woman in Cape Breton was killed by Coywolves when
she was out for a walk in a wooded area.

~~~
mabbo
> 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](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).

~~~
js2
> they'd still be a orders of magnitude less dangerous than sharks, bees, and
> lightning.

And well, dogs:

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_dog_attacks_in_t...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_dog_attacks_in_the_United_States)

BTW, since we just adopted a very sweet chocolate lab mix who according to
wisdom panel has 25% American Staffordshire Terrier in him, I'll also share
this article pointing out that breed is a poor predictor of bite risk:

[https://www.avma.org/resources-tools/literature-
reviews/dog-...](https://www.avma.org/resources-tools/literature-reviews/dog-
bite-risk-and-prevention-role-breed)

Gratuitous pic of our new family member:

[https://ibb.co/thq4sRG](https://ibb.co/thq4sRG)

~~~
gengelbro
Did you read the list of fatal dog attacks? I toolk a cursory look came to
exactly the opposite conclusion as the second avma.org link did, which seemed
to be engaged in mental gymnastics.

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michaelbuckbee
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...](https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2010/12/08/131876027/60-wild-
coyotes-patrol-chicago-and-occasionally-stop-at-convenience-stores)

~~~
MikeKusold
Once coyotes establish themselves, you can never get rid of them. If you try
to exterminate them, they just start having larger litters until their
population recovers. They are adaptable and cunning. I hope that South
America’s animals are ready for them, because they can permanently change an
ecosystem.

~~~
pvaldes
Big Felines and wolves erradicate it. Is just that we, humans are not good at
that.

~~~
chrisco255
Big felines and wolves don't do well in urban/suburban environments. Coyotes
do.

~~~
erikpukinskis
The irony: we kill large scary predators, but inevitably medium sized
predators replace them. People and cattle are not terrorized but our Shih Tzus
and kitty cats are.

~~~
pvaldes
Yep, It even has a name in Ecology: Mesopredator release. You can have one
wolf or "twenty" coyotes in the same area.

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dotancohen
Fascinating article, highlighting that the coyote is one of the few species to
thrive in the Anthropocene. How do such populations cross significant barriers
such as the Panama Canal? I could imagine a coyote or two crossing, but how do
enough breeding pairs cross?

~~~
nkrisc
My guess is simply by trotting across a bridge or roadway. I've come across
coyotes in Chicago and they're fearless. I was walking along a major road at
around 5PM and a big, fat one that had been running down the sidewalk ran
right past me and bolted across the street into a wooded area of a cemetery. I
was kind of zoned out and hadn't even noticed it until it was right upon me.

They've happily walked into shops with open doors too.

[https://coyotesincities2011.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/urba...](https://coyotesincities2011.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/urbancoyotechicagosuntimes450092900_b9bead8ebf_o1.jpg)

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pvaldes
The interesting question is why did not happened before. This would suggest
that big felines are retreating (and that coyotes trive in urban areas of
course)

The golden jackal in the same way is returning to its old domains in Europa,
for some reason is a global trend. Maybe control of distemper has triggered
something, or maybe climate is more accurate now for they.

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Causality1
"Then, around the turn of the 20th century, nature’s barriers began to
crumble. Forests began to fragment,"

It's impressive how wrong that statement is. 1900 is when forests stopped
fragmenting, not when they started. Between 1630 and 1900 forested area of
north America declined from 46 percent to 34 percent. That declined only
slightly to 33 percent in 1997 and has since increased to 36.2 percent.

~~~
ceejayoz
Fragmenting and loss of overall area are not the same thing.

A fragmented drinking cup may weigh the same as an intact one, but one of them
is a lot better at holding water.

A power line through a forest, for example, incurs minimal deforestation, but
provides a highway for animals to transit through the surrounding forest.

~~~
chrisco255
I would think that power lines are a minimal impact. What probably really
hurts is some species have roam areas of dozens to hundreds of square miles.
With the introduction of roads and urban areas to break up some of the
ecosystems that spanned multiple states, for example, had to have a much more
dramatic effect. Fencing, road barriers, etc. Create choke points and make it
harder especially for large predators to thrive. The Florida panther was not
even an especially large feline but it did occupy a central place at the top
of the food chain in Florida and now its population has been decimated due to
fractured ecosystems and each one needing about 75-150 square miles of roam
area.

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hownottowrite
This is not unusual, at least on large timescales. Life finds a way.

If you want to read about larger migrations have a look at The Great American
Biotic Exchange.

[https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2987556/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2987556/)

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stephenhuey
We’ve had them roaming through the middle of the city of Houston for well over
a dozen years. This local news article from a couple months ago has tips for
how to handle them in your yard:

[https://www.khou.com/mobile/article/news/local/urban-
coyotes...](https://www.khou.com/mobile/article/news/local/urban-coyotes-in-
your-backyard-heres-how-to-keep-them-
out/285-59e4514c-d081-4dc1-be81-9723e94008cd)

------
WalterBright
Coyotes are on my lawn regularly. Once there was a litter of seven, that
dwindled to 5 by the fall. They liked to play in the yard.

I never bothered them, they didn't bother me, though they'd watch me
carefully.

There's an eagle nest nearby, and the eagles are often circling above.

Amazingly, I live in the middle of the city.

~~~
albedoa
> Amazingly, I live in the middle of the city.

I live within a Boston postal code, and we have at least one coyote in our
neighborhood. That was a surprise even coming from nearby Arlington where
coyotes are not uncommon. Nobody expected we'd have one chillin among the
concrete.

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DanCarvajal
No problem. We simply unleash wave after wave of Chinese needle snakes.

~~~
dylan604
I know an old lady who swallowed a dog. She swallowed the dog to chase the cat
to chase the bird to chase the spider to chase the fly.

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Taniwha
"The crab-eating fox and the coyote may soon swap territories, initiating the
first American cross-continental exchange in more than three million years"

If you don't count humans

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raverbashing
Ok so apparently they would have to get through the equatorial (Amazon) forest
first

My bet is that it's not going to happen. It's not really a place where that
kind of animal will thrive

~~~
archsurface
Yeah, the Darien Gap - well done to them.

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beastofburden1
I thought it was only the repulsive rats that benefit from the human ever-
expanding footprint. Interesting to know other species are also adjusting.

~~~
smt88
Domestic dogs, many crops, and feral-descended populations (like wild pigs and
pigeons) also benefit

~~~
thaumasiotes
Strange list. Other domestic animals (cats, pigs, chickens...) benefit the
same way domestic dogs do. That's the whole point of being domesticated.

~~~
smt88
It certainly would be a strange list if it were exhaustive. It was just a
random list of examples to make the point that anything humans perceive as
beneficial are reproducing at massive rates.

Food animals (like cows) are perhaps not fitting anyone's definition of "doing
well", but they're certainly reaching record-high population counts.

