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The wily coyote
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| July 29, 2002. |
As a child, I thoroughly enjoyed
watching cartoons of Warner Brothers' Wily Coyote and
the Roadrunner. Although those programs were always
fun to watch, I was always upset at the end because
the coyote, despite his cunning and intelligence, was
always the loser whenever he confronted the arrogant
and certainly not creative roadrunner.
Nevertheless, that is only part of
television fiction because after reading up on the natural
history of the coyote, I realize that today I hold in
my hands the opportunity to vindicate his image - for
the child that I was then and for our readers too of
course- as the coyote is an animal with abilities that
have enabled it to survive in the natural environment
and in certain cases, even reach the level of deity
in various human societies.
The coyote is also known as the prairie
wolf because unlike wolves that prefer forest areas,
the coyote has adapted much better to open spaces. In
fact, the expansion of human settlements that is destroying
wooded areas and forests to make way for agricultural
land, cattle and urban infrastructure, has had favorable
repercussions on the increase in the coyote population
and the expansion of its geographical limits.
Coyotes are nearly as large German
shepherd dogs, with a body that is 4 to 4½ feet
long including the tail. Their shoulder height varies
between 18 and 25 inches and they weigh anywhere from
20 to 50 pounds. Males are larger than females, but
both have a grey or brownish coat, some with hues of
black, beige or red. The tail is bushy and always carried
low, between or next to the hind legs.
During the first half of last century,
coyotes were hunted indiscriminately and massively poisoned
as they were judged responsible for the large number
of deaths among cattle. Nevertheless, various studies
have shown that the diet of those carnivores is composed
of small mammals (rats, mice, rabbits, squirrels, etc.),
and carrion as the basis of its diet, along with vegetable
foods like fruit and grain. It has to cover huge distances
to fulfill its dietary needs (there are reports of some
specimens having traveled as far as 400 miles in search
of food for their litter.)
Coyotes live in a wide range of climates
and conditions throughout Canada, the United States
and Mexico, from deserts through plains and even in
the suburbs of urban centers. In the latter, they enjoy
themselves rummaging and sniffing through the garbage
bins near the houses. Obviously, the sense of smell
of coyotes and all members of the canine family (wolves,
foxes, and domestic dogs among others) is highly developed.
We know that a dog's sense of smell is a million times
more sensitive than that of a man. This is a useful
tool that can be used to smell out fruit, drugs and
explosives hidden in luggage or to detect the presence
of cancerous tumors in the human body.
A coyote can run at speeds as great
as 45 miles per hour. He is a good swimmer and is active
both day and night, though he prefers to go wandering
around his territory during the night. They can live
up to 10 or 15 years in captivity. In the wild, their
lifespan is reduced to 8 or 10 years. Usually 30% to
50% of adult individuals do not die of old age or disease,
but rather as a result of conflicts related to the human
species (traps, poison, hunting, etc.) even though coyotes
are actually the ranchers' friend as they feed on rodents
that destroy the vegetable matter in the farmers' fields.
Normally the coyote lives alone or
with its mate, but he may also join a pride to hunt
pronghorns, rams and even deer. The groups are formed
when the young delay their exit from the family nucleus
and stay on close to their parents, as helpers. Prides
are usually made up of six adults and young specimens,
all related to one another. The only ones who stand
a chance to reproduce are the dominating male and female.
Groups are not very stable and they tend to break up
as the young individuals reach sexual maturity (around
two years of age.)
To North American natives, the coyote
represented the creator, the master and the guardian
of magic. To ancient Mexicans, the coyote was considered
as a deity they called Huehuecóyotl, or
old coyote (in fact the word coyote comes from the Aztec
word coyotl) that was depicted in various ways:
as a lusting musician, a warrior that spread discord,
a fire thief, an astute hero and a prankster, among
others.
Although scientists call the coyote
by its Latin name, Canis latrans (the "howling
wolf"), today's Tzotzile natives call it ok'il
which means "the howler", a description that
surely must be the reason for its relationship with
music. Some ceramic archeological artifacts represent
the coyote with rattles or flutes in its paws. So intense
is the symbolic relationship of coyotes to music that
Otomi natives from the Mexican state of Puebla use a
drum made of coyote hide in their rituals.
In that same mythology of ancient
Mexico, the coyote is linked to sex: the Nahuatl verb
coyoquetza, literally translated as "to
rise like a coyote", also means "to have sexual
relations with a woman imitating the animals."
In conclusion, there is a modern
myth of the Maya-Kekchis of Belize that speaks of the
"flatulence of the coyote": "…corn
had not yet been discovered and the coyote was the first
to find it and he ate it in hiding. Other animals realized
that the coyote was eating the coveted cereal from the
smell of its flatulence. The coyote died and the corn
was discovered when his remains were carved up."
According to ancient myths of various American cultures,
corn was what the gods used to create the bodies of
men, in whom would prevail the wise and deceitful nature
of the animal that discovered it: the coyote.
cupul@pvmirror.com
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