We Hear Howling

We were sitting around the camp fire last night when heard a howling! We knew immediately that it was the coyotes that call these woods home. We hoped it would be our friend Carla. Sure enough Carla met came down to the camp fire to meet the campers and tell us more about coyotes.

Hello everyone! We coyotes are so glad to see you hear at camp. I’m going to tell you more about myself and my relatives.

• We coyotes are members of the canine family.
• We once roamed only the western plains, but we now call much of the North America our home.
• The early human settlers of this place, the Native Americans told many legends of my kind. They said we were clever and mischievous.
• No one ever called us dumb, that’s for sure.
• We are predators and omnivores. We’ll eat most prey animals including snakes. Don’t worry campers, our diets don’t include you.
• We coyotes have excellent senses of smell and sight.
• And man are we fast! We can reach up to 40 mph!
• I have a litter of cubs who were born this spring. My partner is watching over them. We take care them and protect our territory together.
• You may think we are nocturnal, but in fact we are active all times of day depending on what animals are in our area. So you may see us during the day or you may hear us howling at night.

We coyotes are often misunderstood, like most predators. We all play our part in the ecosystems of North America. So next time you hear one of us howling, smile and howl back!