JACKSON, Wyo. — The coyote is a staple on the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE) landscape, a keystone species that goes by a number of different names.
Grand Teton National Park (GTNP) writes that the coyote is a native species to North America. While a member of the dog family, GTNP reminds all visitors to the GYE that coyotes are still wild animals that humans must give plenty of space.
Here are some of the monikers coyote have been known by across the landscape and history:
Coyote
The name coyote comes from the Nahuatl, or Aztec, name for the species “coy?tl,” which can be traced back to historian Francisco Javier Clavijero’s “Historia de México,” published in 1780. In 1824, British naturalist William Bullock also used the spellings “cayjotte” and “cocyotie” in his publication “Six months’ residence and travels in Mexico.”
According to Dan Flores, author of “Coyote America: A Natural and Supernatural History,” Spanish settlers took the name from Mexico into the American Southwest. Historian and author Joseph Mussulman suggests the name’s spelling was standardized as “coyote” by the 1880s.
Canis latrans
According to GTNP, coyotes are scientifically known as Canis latrans. While in Latin Canis indicates the genus for all dogs, the name Canis latrans translates into “barking dog” for the vocalization of the species.
The Wyoming Game and Fish Department writes on its website that coyotes tend to interject barking into their howls, typically at the initiation of a howl, and hold each howl for a shorter duration than wolves do. Their howls are also often higher-pitched than wolves’.
The Jackson Hole Conservation Alliance writes that “song dogs” are another form of this moniker that plays off their range of vocalizations and communication.
Flores goes as far as calling the coyote howl America’s “original national anthem.”
American jackal
A National Geographic interview with Flores also highlights the nickname “American jackal” for coyotes, due to their physical resemblance to the native African and Eurasian species. Coyotes and golden jackals look particularly alike. Coyotes and golden jackals only separated from each other an estimated 800,000 years ago, and they currently only have about a four percent genetic difference.
Because all Canis species are so closely related, there is the potential for any of these species to interbreed with each other and produce viable offspring.
Prairie wolf
Project Coyote, a non-profit focused on promoting coexistence through education, writes on its Facebook that coyotes were originally called prairie wolves by European colonizers and explorers in the U.S. Because coyotes look like small wolves and were first encountered by those traveling through the prairie landscape, the name stuck.
Meriwether Lewis and William Clark used this nickname for coyotes during their Corps of Discovery expedition.
In a journal entry on Sept. 11, 1806, Lewis wrote that “wolves were howling in different directions this evening after we had encamped [near present-day St. Joseph, Missouri], and the barking of the little prairie wolves…the barking of those little wolves I have frequently taken notice of on this as also the other Side of the Rocky mountains.”
GTNP writes that coyotes have now adapted into every ecosystem in North America. Their size and coloring can vary dramatically depending on where they’re spotted. To see some SNAPPED shots by Buckrail photographer Nick Sulzer of coyotes in the GYE this winter, click here.
