Coyote America: A Natural and Supernatural History (original 2016; udgave 2016)

Tells the story of the coyote in America through the Native tribes stories to its journey from west to east, south to north, across borders and how it has survived all attempts to eradicate it from the United States. The coyote is found in both rural and urban areas. They are adaptive like humans are. They have managed to learn and outsmart those coming after them.

I enjoyed the book. It took me a little while to get into it but then I got sucked in and learned a lot. I knew very little about coyotes but found their history and how the government and ranchers tried to destroy them fascinating. I chuckled over the Nixon administration's passage of laws protecting the environment hoping the youth vote would come his way. They turned out to be some of the strongest laws passed to protect the environment and no one read them until after passage then they had a lot to say. So much is in this book that reading was slower than usual but it is worth reading and savoring this history of a much maligned but necessary animal. ( )

Very interesting history, not only of coyotes and the American drive to wipe them out, but of the ecological movement. How radical the Endangered Species Act was when it was passed! How forward thinking some of our early naturalists were, long before Rachel Carson wrote Silent Spring. Unfortunately, the first chapter is dull, and that inhibits many readers from going forward. Skip ahead and you will be rewarded. ( )

At times really difficult to stomach what humans have done to coyotes and the environment in the name of progress but over all a fantastic book. And if you are aware of coyotes in your daily wanderings you might get some questions answered. Yay coyotes! And yay for this book that celebrates them. Highly recommend.

Audiobook note - Good narrator, but there were a couple of problems with the recording. Won't distract from the content. ( )

“Persecuting an animal in a battle you can’t win is an act of political ideology.”

Is our determination to completely exterminate this species a direct reflection of ourselves? A reflective person might conclude that and it certainly occurred to me as I listened to this disturbing tale. Coyotes and humans are very similar. We’re adaptable, circumspect, omnivorous, have relatively long childhoods where we have to learn directly from parents, and most importantly, we have fission/fusion social structures. That means that we have a wide spectrum of normal interaction with each other - from loners and hermits, to pack leaders and hangers on.

Having them in our cities is nothing new. Ancient cities in the north and central American zones are rife with tales and examples of coyotes moving in and doing well. The best strategy to adopt is to learn about them, keep them wary of us and let them be. That last part is key because, like humans, coyotes are survivors and they are uniquely predisposed to overcome our attempts to poison, trap, shoot and sterilize them. Despite spending millions and millions of Government dollars to kill millions and millions of coyotes, their range and numbers have never been greater or higher.

It’s interesting, but largely depressing and frustrating. Even though we should know better, we always take on nature as if we understand what we’re going to do to it. We always take drastic and often unrecoverable measures that nearly always backfire. We treat nature like an inert object that won’t react to us. We never learn. But coyotes do. And they’re winning. Despite nearly 500,000 that are massacred every year (and that includes now).

If you’re like me you’ll have to skip over the endless narration about the war against this wonderful creature. It was too negative, too stupid, too maddening and too sad to listen to. Humans suck.

It ends sort of hopefully, but it still hasn’t sunk in to most that there are coyotes in New York City precisely because millions of them were killed in the name of saving cattle (and sheep, which isn’t even an issue since hardly anyone raises sheep in big numbers these days). Federal agencies still slaughter thousands every year. The book gives advice about how to live peacefully with them, and to adapt our behavior to theirs - like not feeding them, supervising very small children and keeping pets leashed or enclosed. Personally I love hearing the yips and songs of my neighborhood coyotes. I hear them much more often than the wolves that are their natural population check. Both evolved together and have carved out their own ‘jobs’ in the natural world and need to be present together. I’m glad I have both nearby. As hunters age out and decrease, we’re going to need them to keep everything else in check - deer, rodents and rabbits.

You get the idea. Oh and Mr. Flores, that Chuck Jones Wile E. Coyote portrait was a riff on a self-portrait Vincent Van Gogh did after his tragic self-mutilation incident. You go on quite a bit about this painting, but no reference to its reference and that was weird. ( )

Impossible to come away from this book without a lot of admiration for coyotes. ( )