Wyomingites might be used to seeing coyotes alone and assume they’re solitary loners, but they’re actually much like wolves and love living in packs, according to wildlife biologists.
Recently, theres’s been concern over a pack of four coyotes reportedly killing pets and wreaking havoc in a neighborhood near Douglas.
Those coyotes were described to Cowboy State Daily as young and scrawny-looking.
That makes sense, because this is the time year when litters of young coyotes might split from their parents, retired biologist Franz Camenzind of Jackson told Cowboy State Daily.
“It could be a litter dispersing. It’s also possible that maybe the adults were killed at some point and it’s literally some juveniles just raising hell,” said Camenzind, who studied coyote behavior in and around the National Elk Refuge near Jackson.
Wildlife biologist Robert Crabtree told Cowboy State Daily that the Douglas coyotes probably aren’t a well-established pack.
“It could have been some non-pack members that were grouping up” for the sake of opportunity, said Crabtree, who is the is founder, chief scientist and president of the Yellowstone Ecological Research Center.
Those coyotes were also described as unusually bold and unafraid of people.
That’s typical of coyotes that have discovered an easy food source, Crabtree said.
“Anytime you see coyotes around people, they’ve always been fed or they’ve been rewarded food. And they lose their shyness,” he said. “If they’ve killed your neighbor’s cat, that essentially like feeding the coyotes, and they remember that.”
Little Wolves
Coyotes are much more like wolves than people might realize, the biologists said.
“They’re very similar to wolves, though their average pack sizes are smaller,” said Crabtree, who has led studies of coyotes in Yellowstone National Park for decades.
Most coyote packs include a breeding pair and whichever of their offspring hang around, he said.
Coyote pups are usually born in April, and some of the offspring might take off on their own in August or September, Crabtree said. Those that opt to hang around might stay for another year or two before also taking off.
“They hang around to get food, and also to help raise their younger brothers and sisters,” Crabtree said.
Coyotes packing up is regarded as common in the Eastern U.S., but coyotes out West do it as well whenever they get a chance even if it’s not commonly observed by humans, Camenzind said.
“I’m not sure there’s that much behavioral difference between Eastern coyotes and Western coyotes,” he said.
Solo Hunting
Camenzind and Crabtree said people might frequently see coyotes alone because they often hunt alone, whereas wolves almost always hunt in packs.
The reason for that is simple, they said. Wolves are usually out after big prey animals like elk, which take a team effort to kill.
Coyotes generally eat smaller critters such as prairie dogs, mice, voles or even grasshoppers.
“Coyotes are big enough to kill ungulates if they need to, but they’re small enough to subsists on mice,” Crabtree said. “A wolf can’t subsist on mice.”
As one wolf in Yellowstone recently learned the hard way, trying to hunt elk alone is a good way to risk getting stomped.
When coyotes team up to go after bigger prey like elk calves or ranchers’ sheep, it’s because they’ve got young to feed, Camenzind said.
“Think about it; if I’m trying to feed a whole family, I’m going to take a big shopping cart into Albertsons,” he said. “If I’m feeding just myself, then I’m only taking a small bag, and it’s the same idea with coyotes.”
Coyotes have lots of competition for prey in Wyoming, including badgers. (Courtesy Franz Camenzind) 
Though they’re frequently spotted alone, most coyotes are members of a mated pair, and frequently an entire pack. (Courtesy Franz Camenzind) 
Though they’re frequently spotted alone, most coyotes are members of a mated pair, and frequently an entire pack. (Courtesy Franz Camenzind) 
Though they’re frequently spotted alone, most coyotes are members of a mated pair, and frequently an entire pack. (Courtesy Franz Camenzind)
Wolves Are More Brutal To Each Other
Wolves also favor larger packs because territorial battles between wolves are far more brutal than those between coyotes.
“When wolves fight, they kill each other. So, there’s an advantage to being in bigger groups,” Crabtree said. “When coyotes fight, they don’t kill each other.”
So, coyotes don’t need as big a pack to prevail in canine gang wars.
Camenzind said he’s found dead coyotes that might have been killed by other coyotes, but that’s extremely rare.
Coyote packs control their territory in three ways, he said.
“Howling” to warn strangers away, or marking territory with urine.
The last defensive measure is “outright chasing” strange coyotes, which they can detect from hundreds of yards away, he said.
“The chasing coyote will usually chase the other up near to or just right at the boundary of his territory and then quit,” Camenzind said.
Human, Wolf Interference Shrinks Coyote Packs
In Wyoming, Coyotes are classified as a predatory species. That means they can be killed at any time by just about any means possible, without hunting licenses or bag limits.
Camenzind said he wishes people would ease up on coyotes.
“When people aren’t continually killing them, they’ll form stable packs and establish territories,” he said.
So long as a local pack isn’t preying on livestock, they’ll drive other coyotes away, which can actually help protect cattle and sheep.
Even so, Camenzind said he grew up on farm in the Midwest and understands why farmers and ranchers aren’t fond of predators.
“I’m a fan of coyotes, but I also totally understand that they’re predators and they kill things for a living,” he said.
In places where coyotes are regularly shot or trapped, they’re less likely to form packs, he added. Instead, pairs will stick together and boot their pups out once they’re mature enough.
“Coyotes are adaptable and can adapt to living in pairs,” he said.
The presence of wolves, which sometimes kill coyotes, will also shrink coyote pack sizes, Crabtree said.
Before wolves returned to Yellowstone, the average coyote pack size was six and it wasn’t unheard of to see coyote packs up to a dozen or more, he said.
After the wolves came back, the average size of a coyote pack in Yellowstone is three, Crabtree said.
Coyote pack sizes also vary according to how much food is available, he said.
“They’s why we had such big coyote packs in the Lamar Valley (of Yellowstone Park), there was so much food there,” Crabtree said.
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
