After laying low for the winter, Limpy, Yellowstone National Park’s famous begging coyote, is once again laying it on thick with his pity party routine – hoping to sucker roadside snacks out of soft-hearted tourists.
Feeding wildlife is strictly forbidden in Yellowstone, and for good reason. The feeding ban helps keep both wildlife and tourists safe.
But that hasn’t stopped Limpy from hanging out along the roadside in Yellowstone’s Lamar area and putting on a show.
He’s notorious for greatly exaggerating an old leg injury, hanging his head and making sad eyes, and otherwise acting completely pathetic as he tries to score some grub from unwitting visitors.
Limpy’s roadside show has become a springtime ritual in Yellowstone.
“It’s always a pleasure to see Limpy. He hid on us for several months this winter,” wildlife watcher and seasonal Yellowstone employee Cindy Shaffer says in the voiceover to a video she recently took of Limpy by the roadside and shared with Cowboy State Daily.
Real Injury, Fake Act
Limpy is also known as Tripod. And some folks call him Chester, after the character with a limp on the classic Western television show “Gunsmoke.”
He does have an actual limp because of a real injury to one of his rear legs.
It’s not known for certain when and how his leg got hurt. The most plausible story is that a visitor fed their dog by the side of the road, but then irresponsibly left behind some kibble that the dog didn’t eat.
As it’s told, Limpy was so intent on gobbling the leftover kibble, he didn’t notice an oncoming vehicle and was struck and injured.
However, just as some domestic dogs do when they’re hurt, Limpy figured out that he can score major sympathy points by making his injury seem much worse than it actually is.
He’s been observed having only a slight limp when he’s chasing natural prey such as rodents.
But when he knows an audience is watching, he amps it up, and acts as if he can hardly walk.
Wildlife biologist Robert Crabtree, who has studied wolves and coyotes extensively, told Cowboy State Daily that he’s not at all surprised that a wild canine was smart enough to craft such a scheme.
Limpy isn’t Yellowstone’s only beggar, he added.
“As many years as I’ve worked in Yellowstone, I’ve seen a beggar in the Lamar Valley every winter. One often shows up around Blacktail Plateau, as well as around Old Faithful,” he said.
Is Limpy A Senior Citizen?
Limpy’s been at it for years, and nobody’s quite sure how old he is.
Shaffer told Cowboy State Daily that the general consensus is that Limpy’s around age 6.
That’s getting up there in coyote years, Crabtree said.
“The typical age of a coyote is similar to wolves (3-5.4 years), but is contingent on the level of exploitation by humans and mortality from other causes,” Crabtree said.
“In an unexploited population, the average age of a coyote is 6, with the oldest one known at 16.5 years – from my study in the 1980s in Hanford, Washington,” he said.
“When a coyote population is heavily exploited, the average age is 3,” Crabtree added.
Since Limpy sometimes strays into the road to get closer to potential marks for his con routine, his fans worry about him getting run over.
But if Limpy avoids that or some other terrible fate – and lives beyond the usual wild canine lifespan – he will be in good company.
Yellowstone’s most famous wolf, the one-eyed alpha female 907F, reached the stately age of 11 years and eight months before she died on Christmas Day in 2024, from injuries she suffered a few days earlier in a fight with wolves from a rival pack.
Contact Mark Heinz at mark@cowboystatedaily.com
Limpy, aka Tripod or Chester, is a coyote that lives in the Lamar area of Yellowstone National Park. He tries to sucker tourists out of snacks by looking pathetic along the roadside. (Courtesy Cindy Shaffer) 
Limpy the coyote lives in the Lamar area of Yellowstone National Park and tries to beg for snacks from tourists. His fans worry about him straying into the road and possibly getting run over. (Courtesy Cindy Shaffer) 
Limpy, aka Tripod or Chester, is a coyote that lives in the Lamar area of Yellowstone National Park. He tries to sucker tourists out of snacks by looking pathetic along the roadside. (Courtesy Cindy Shaffer)
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
