Have you ever been out hiking and heard an eerie chorus of barks, yips, and howls somewhere off in the distance? Or seen some scat that looked more like a bunch of smooshed up seeds and fur? You might have had a near brush with a coyote (or several!). 

In this episode, I interview Sara Tabatabai from Effie Yeaw Nature Center, located right on the American River in Carmichael, California. Sara shows me around the nature preserve and helps me answer so many coyote questions, including these: How similar are they to wolves? Is one going to eat me? How can I tell if coyotes are living in an area where I’m hiking? Do they subsist on seed bits and hairballs? Did I see one downtown last week? What’s a coyote’s love life like? Can I have one as a pet? What is all this about coyotes and badgers being friends? How can you tell a coyote’s tracks from a dog’s?

Here are some links/resources:  

Effie Yeaw Nature Center 

Coyote Yipps website 

Coyotes as Neighbors Video 

Smithsonian Article on Dog Domestication 

Cats and Birds 

Wolf-Dog-Coyote Hybrids 

Coyote/Badger Relationship 

My Patreon is www.patreon.com/michellefullner 

You can find me on Instagram or TikTok @goldenstatenaturalist

The theme song is called "i dunno" by grapes, and you can find it as well as the Creative Commons license here.