![]() Coyotes, which are not exclusively carnivorous, are attracted to pet food, compost piles, open trash, dirty grills, and even rodents drawn to spilled bird feed. The best way for people to avoid the animals is to stop providing food, Mowry says. In fact, coyotes are so anxious to avoid humans that the diurnal creatures often become nocturnal in urban areas, appearing mostly when people are typically indoors. Of the 350 or so animals that test positive for rabies every year in Georgia, less than a handful are coyotes, he adds. ![]() “You’re much more at risk of being attacked by a dog than a coyote,” Mowry says. Coyotes are smaller than wolves but larger than foxes. If you spotted the recent viral meme about a clueless animal lover who bathed a stray dog that actually turned out to be a coyote, take note: That was a hoax. We are trying to change the mentality of fear and show that coyotes are a special part of the environment, that humans and coyotes can coexist in peace.” ![]() “Coyotes are wary, shy animals that want nothing from us. “We realized there was a real need for credible information to counteract the myths,” Mowry says. However, Chris Mowry, associate professor of biology at Berry College, says that “people’s fear of coyotes is mainly fear of the unknown.” He and Larry Wilson, an adjunct professor at Emory University, founded the Atlanta Coyote Project, which studies the animal’s activities and provides public education, in 2014. “In rural areas and metro regions, they affect the deer population, and in urban areas, they tend to kill small pets. “It’s open season on coyotes year-round, and there is no bag limit,” says Charlie Killmaster, an ironically named DNR biologist. In 2017, the DNR accumulated nearly 200 carcasses. Hunters are invited to present up to five “kills” per month from March through August, and at the end of each month, their names are entered into a drawing for a lifetime hunting and fishing license. ![]() The Department of Natural Resources prefers not to use the unsavory word “bounty.” Instead, they call it the Georgia Coyote Challenge. Last year, concerns prompted state officials to launch a program to trap or kill more of the animals. Likewise, as coyotes have become increasingly active here, their ululations are striking outsized fears among metro Atlantans.Ĭoyotes have been documented in every county in Georgia ( one often sighted in Piedmont Park was nicknamed “Rusty”). This phenomenon is called the Beau Geste effect, after a novel in which French Legionnaires propped up their dead along the wall of a fort to appear greater in number. ![]() You think you’re hearing a giant pack when there probably are only two or three. In addition, children discover where coyotes live, how they stay safe, and the different ways their sounds help them communicate with each other-and tell other coyotes to stay away! A “Sound Check” chart at the end of the book compares the decibel level of a coyote to familiar noises, including an airplane, an ambulance, and a train engine.Coyotes can have a hair-raising, three-octave howl with hiccups of yipping, and they modulate their vocalizations in a way that makes their groups sound larger. These are just some of the interesting facts that kids will discover as they learn about the howls, growls, and snarls of these animal loudmouths.įabulous photos and clear, easy-to-read text will engage emergent readers as they come face-to-face with these noisy animals. By playing with sound in this way, one small family of coyotes can make itself seem bigger and tougher than it is, which helps the coyotes protect their territory. That’s pretty noisy, but when a pack of coyotes howl together they can sound louder than the sum of their individual parts! Coyotes can change the sounds they make by altering the pitch of their voice and the loudness of their howling. A single coyote’s howl measures around 90 decibels-about as loud as a gas-powered lawn mower. ![]()
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