There is nothing like a coyote howl to raise the hairs on your neck.
But it is an effective way to communicate. In this video, courtesy of Dan Worcester, you can hear other coyotes answer the one featured here.
A coyote howls for a couple of major reasons. One is territorial, telling other coyotes that it’s staking out some turf and warning them to stay away. The other is to communicate with its family, according to researchers at Penn State University.
Coyotes live in families that include a breeding male and female and whatever offspring have not ventured on their own, according to the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Sometimes the male and female are mated for life and pup litters average four.
The eastern coyote in Maine tends to be much larger than its western counterpart. Maine coyotes average 30-35 pounds, with some males reaching the high 40s. Western coyotes average 20-25. One of the reasons could be that coyotes mated with New Brunswick wolves, creating a hybrid, according to a study done in the early 2000s the MDIF&W cited.
Maine manages the eastern coyote as a furbearer that can be hunted or trapped.
