Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Carnivora
Family: Canidae
Genus: Canis
Species: latrans

Description: Color is variable, from mottled gray to reddish brown. Bellies are generally lighter in color. Eye color is yellow or amber. Weight between 25-35 pounds with some eastern specimens reaching 60 pounds. Bushy tail which is held down between hind legs when the animal is running. Foxes hold their tails out and red wolves hold their tails up when running.

Reproduction: Coyotes mate in late winter to early spring, usually January-March. Gestation is around 60 days. Litter size 5-9; 5-7 normal. Pups born in underground den. Coyotes may use the same den for years. Juveniles disperse in November or December.

Natural History: Made a big push eastward in the mid 1900s. Populations now exist in 46 states and this adaptable creature may soon reside in all states except Hawaii. One of the earliest records in Western North Carolina is from the Qualla Boundary in 1947. Besides migrating into the region coyotes are brought in by hunters. In 1996 there were 19 prosecutions in North Carolina for the illegal transportation of coyotes and foxes.

First record in GSMNP 1982. Estimated population density in the park, one per 13 squre kilometers in Cades Cove and one per 40 square kilometers outside Cades Cove (Crawford, 1992.) Coyotes are opportunistic omnivores and feed on small mammals (up to size of newborn elk), carrion and even fruit such as persimmons.

Coyotes may reach an age of 14 years in the wild.

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Jennifer Murrow steadies herself, gathers her breath, throws back her head and pierces the night calm with a wailing howl.

One night a month for the last year — since elk were first brought to Cataloochee — Murrow travels the dark roads of the park calling to and listening for coyotes. She traverses about 28 miles from Cataloochee Valley to Mt. Sterling. The University of Tennessee graduate student and head field researcher for the Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s experimental elk release is a coyote fan.

“They’re an amazing species. They can adapt to anything and survive anywhere,” she said.

Murrow initiated the coyote prowls as a way to try to gather data on a predator that could play an important role in the experimental elk release. Coyote numbers are increasing throughout Western North Carolina without exception.

“A lot of people want to get rid of them, especially people with no wildlife background,” Murrow said.

She said she understands the need for predator control in certain situations, but predator-prey relationships in the wild are simply nature’s system of checks and balances. Murrow believes a healthy predator population will go a long way towards establishing a healthy elk population in the park, and she believes coyotes may fill that niche.

“We know from research that 50 percent of calf mortality out west is attributable to coyotes. We hoped coyotes would take some. We need something to complete the cycle,” Murrow said.

Researchers believe three elk calves were lost to predators last year in Cataloochee. One was an obvious coyote kill, according to Murrow.

“The kill pattern was coyote. There were multiple bite wounds to the hind quarters and multiple bites — 20 to 30 — to the neck area. Classic coyote,” Murrow said.

Other telltale coyote signs, according to Murrow, included the fact that only the viscera — the internal organs — was eaten, and the fact the dead calf wasn’t cached (covered and/or hidden so the predator could come back later.)

“Bobcats go straight for the throat and latch on. There are not multiple bite wounds. Bobcats cache their prey,” she said. “Black bear skin their prey and eat the meat and muscle as well as the viscera. And black bears also cache their prey.”

Biologists tracking one elk cow that had just given birth last summer found only the placenta. Murrow believes coyotes were the culprits.

“Coyotes are renowned for taking calves the minute they are born,” she said.

The type of survey Murrow is doing is called a trend indicator.

“We won’t be able to come up with hard numbers, as far as population is concerned, using the trend indicator, but we will be able to tell if the population is increasing or decreasing,” she said.

“We wanted to somehow keep track of the predators we know. Given the available time and resources, this is the best way to do it.”

The protocol for Murrow’s coyote research was developed by UT graduate student Barron Crawford in the early 1990s during the unsuccessful red wolf reintroduction in the park. He was studying coyote populations around Cades Cove. According to Murrow, Crawford initially began with an old hand-crank siren to try and elicit responses from coyotes. He soon found that howling was simpler and just as productive. The howls are intended to mimic wolves.

“Coyotes don’t like wolves,” Murrow said. “They get agitated and yell back saying ‘this is my territory.’”

The coyote prowl is carried out only once a month because researchers don’t want the animals to get accustomed to hearing the howls. They are concerned the coyotes would quit responding if the howling was a common occurrence.

The survey is conducted the same way every month. The route and protocol have to be the same each time for the study to be statistically valid. The evening begins 30 minutes after sunset near the Cove Creek Road entrance to the GSMNP. Murrow goes to her designated spot; howls for five seconds, barks two or three times, howls for five more seconds, and then listens for two minutes. After two minutes, she repeats the howl sequence and listens for one minute. Then she drives two miles to the next location and repeats the protocol. There are 14 stops on the survey.

Murrow tries for bright nights with low wind. She said coyotes are more active on bright nights. The less wind, the easier it is to hear responses. She said getting accurate counts is often difficult.

“Coyotes can make multiple sounds. It can be hard to tell exactly how many animals are responding. We always take a conservative estimate.”

The most coyotes recorded during one night has been seven.

“Most nights we get two or three,” Murrow said.

The survey provides the occasional surprise. Murrow said one night as they were preparing to leave one howling site, they heard some rustling in the woods. When they turned on their lights, a coyote was checking them out from a few yards away.

Eastern coyotes don’t show the same pack tendency as out West. They generally hunt alone or in groups of two or three. Eastern animals tend to be larger than their western counterparts. The average weight is between 25 and 35 pounds but some, in the east, reach 60 pounds.

“Kim [Delozier GSMNP biologist in charge of the elk project] says we have ‘souped-up’ coyotes here in the Southeast,” Murrow said.

Coyotes are relative newcomers to the east, and biologists aren’t sure what the increase in size means. Murrow said one theory has them filling the role of the wolf.

“They are accommodating themselves over time, through evolution, to fill the niche of the wolf. They are expanding their prey base. It’s not common to see coyotes taking down healthy elk calves, but I think we are going to see that in the future,” said Murrow.

Murrow has about 40 more nights to spend with the coyotes of Cataloochee before the five-year experimental elk release ends. She hopes her vocal chords hold out.