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[Charles Paradise <machelp@attglobal.net>]

Eastern coyotes are twice the size of western coyotes.  Eastern coyotes
don't have wolves above them in the ecological scheme.  Here in Massachusetts
I have seen coyotes on 6 occasions.  I believe I saw the same coyote
twice, she was similar to a saluki [a kind of thin hound] and she was very
red, like a deer can sometimes be red.  Many coyotes here are grey,
like a squirrel can be grey.  My neighbor snapped a picture of a coyote
here in the neighborhood who shows up every night:

Small neighborhood coyote

sdsLooking at the picture I see what I think is a tumor on it's back.  This same coyote has also been seen in the company of a larger coyote twice the size.  This coyotes in this area show up in one neighborhood for about two months, then move off to return later.

Those of you who haven't seen coyotes yet, here's a few tips on recognizing, because you may have only a few seconds as they cross the road in front of your car:
1] at first you'll think its a dog.
2] they neither run nor walk.  They kind of seem to just point their feet and move at a comfortable 20 mile an hour kind of speed.
3] various colors can appear - grey - black - red - maybe other colors.
4] they can be seen daytime or anytime but likely times are the dead of night between 1 a.m and 5 am.

I think their most distinctive characteristic to observe is their movement, which I find unlike any domestic dog.  The closest would be the thin hound type of domestic dog run e.g. Saluki or Afghan.  I saw the red coyote crossing a major highway in daylight and so got a good idea of their top speed.  Plenty fast enough to catch a rabbit but definitely slower than a greyhound, I would say about 38 miles an hour.  [Greyhounds are reported to run as fast as 45 miles an hour.]

There's a female coyote on Cape Cod who's been collared who's 58 pounds.  The males, of course, are larger...so these eastern coyotes are well into the size range of western wolves.

Wow, Doreen, do you have a picture of the coyote/red wolf you adopted in 1992?
Charlie Paradise
zone 5/Massachusetts

Doreen Howard wrote:

> We adopted an 18-month-old dog in 1992 from the SPCA
> and were told that she
> was half coyote and miniature German Shepherd.  The story was
> that a coyote
> got in the pen with a show dog in heat.  She had heavy haunches
> and lots of
> red coloring around her face and front quarter, yellow eyes and a thick
> coat
> with fur between the pads of her paws.  She was  very gentle
> however, and we
> quickly came to love her.  She is very loyal and protective. 
> Once two men
> tried to carjack my new car.  The dog was in the back seat, and
> they didn't
> see her.  She got one man by the throat, and I thought she was
> going to kill
> him.  The other ran, and I called the police who arrested the
> man on the
> ground.  My dog had ripped his throat badly.  The police
> officer said that
> my wolf saved me.  I told him that the dog was half coyote. 
> A month later,
> the Houston Zoo received two Mexican red wolves, and their pictures
> were on
> TV.  Our dog was the spitting image of them.  We did some
> research, and sure
> enough, she is half Mexican red wolf.  Many of her habits suddenly
> made
> sense.  She can be violent when she is protecting, but otherwise
> she is
> gentle, shy and hides from chaos.  BTW, we never have varmint
> problems, even
> now in the country.  She kills possum, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks
> and
> rodents regularly.  But, since she is not hungry, she buries them
> for later,
> often in my compost bin!
> Doreen Howard