“Brush wolf” common in the northland

When you see a wild canine in northern Minnesota, don’t assume it is a wolf. We also have a population of coyotes in the area, especially near towns and rural homes. Coyotes (Canis latrans) are smaller than gray wolves, generally 2-foot tall at the shoulder, rather than the bigger 3-foot tall wolves. But confusion is easier in the fall when this year’s wolf pups are about the same size as adult coyotes. Coyotes generally have lighter, brownish fur and have larger ears and more pointed muzzles than wolves. Wolves in this area generally have darker gray fur.

Common names can confuse people as well. The term “brush wolf” refers to coyotes, who aren’t really wolves at all. But compared to wolves, coyotes are far more common in this country, having been spotted in 49 of the United States and with large populations from Michigan to California. Coyotes have a reputation in folklore and biology of being “clever” and adaptable. These skills have served coyotes well during more than 100 years of human persecution. As white farmers and ranchers moved onto the Great Plains, coyotes began preying on their chickens, lambs and calves. Those ranchers quickly labeled coyotes “varmints” and engaged in a shooting, trapping and poisoning campaign. While similar campaigns extirpated wolves, wolverines and mountain lions from much of the west, it didn’t work that way with coyotes. According to biologists, when trappers kill the parents in a coyote family, all the young coyotes disperse and soon begin breeding. If the coyote family stayed intact, those yearlings wouldn’t breed for a few years. This means that the more pressure that hunters and trappers put on a coyote population, the more coyotes reproduce and the coyote population grows. Since humans were so effective in eliminating competing predators like wolves, coyotes have large swaths of the west and plains states to themselves. That means that they have plenty of prey (mice, voles, rabbits, hares and fawns) to feed on.

Here in the northland, coyotes don’t have things so easy. Wolves see coyotes as competing canines and they kill them on sight. Many of the coyote sightings in the area happen near towns or rural homes. It isn’t clear if that is because coyotes seem to stick closer to human habitations in wolf country, or if that is just because we spend more time near our homes and see coyotes when they are there.

But in a world where every year we hear about more species disappearing because of human pressure, it is refreshing to see a species we can’t get rid of, even when we try.