Coyote America: A Natural and Supernatural History

Uses the coyote as a foil to describe America. Clever and very readable

Mon fils avait une présentation à l'école sur le Coyote. Nous avons trouvé beaucoup d'information et c'est vraiment bien écrit.

I am a second-generation native of the Southwestern desert and have been around coyotes all my life. My family ranched in Southern Arizona for many years and we maintained a more-or-less non-aggression pact with “our” coyotes (the dismal economics of desert open-range cattle agriculture being by far the larger bar to success). I have served on the board of the University of Arizona Press which gave me access to very large natural history resources. Also exposed to the Tohono O'odham folklore surrounding the coyote (just for the record, I pronounce it Ki-yot sometimes and Ki-yo-tee sometimes), as an adult I have read Ryden, Leydet, Dobie, Zepeda, Nabhan and Bekoff; Flores's predecessors in describing what the Tohono O'odham call “the cousin.” He is the smartest, most flexible and genetically-adapted of North American wildlife. This book is, by far, the most readable and, to my knowledge, complete discussion of our animal companion. That we have spent millions of dollars and a century trying to eradicate an animal who not only mostly can and will live among us without difficulty is truly sad (if for no other reason than the money might have been spent on something more useful). And, amazingly with so little result (proof of his adaptability). A superbly well written book, the one I will recommend to any and all who show an interest in the Coyote.

If you read this book you will read about a wildlife viewing point near the Lamar River in Yellowstone, where you can sometimes see bison, wolves ... and coyotes. I stood there in the summer of 2019 and made a comment about shooting the coyotes. I came by it honestly, as I think one may have killed my daughter's cat. But from the reaction you'd have thought I'd kidnapped Lindbergh's baby. Then a fellow wildlife enthusiast told me about a coyote following him into a store in downtown Chicago. Dang. Figured I might need to learn something about them. Not sure what I can add to the 850+ other reviews but here goes. I despise coyotes. As they move into cities and suburbs they kill cats and occasionally threaten people. In the part of the state where I live it's open season on them. And yet I'm giving this book at least a B plus. I learned a great deal that, not only did I not know, but I never would have imagined. The animal and its history are nothing if not fascinating. I have at least come to understand them as something more significant than furred cockroaches. I dock the book a half-star or so, not because the author admires coyotes, but because perhaps he tries a little too hard, whether to force himself to admire them or to convince the rest of us to do so. It's not a light read, but a relatively quick one. I can see myself buying this book for others.

An excellent history of the misunderstood coyote. I live in Western Canada; this should be required reading for all my neighbours who shoot every coyote on sight. The resilience of the coyote should be celebrated and cherished.