If you grabbed a wild coyote, and started feeding it, how long would it take before the animal, if not fully tame, would at least not bite the hand that feeds it?
I once rescued an injured duckling from our cat and nursed it back to health.
I fed and watered it several times a day while it convalesced. Each time I reached my hand in the box that tiny adorable creature thrashed its wings and bit my fingers.
After about 3 days I had had enough of it biting the hand that feeds. It was barely larger than a marshmallow but it was kicking my ass.
I decided it must be strong enough so I returned it to its mother, who was conveniently still in the nearby pond. It launched itself toward her and literally ran across the water to be reunited.
That part was touching, so I guess it was worth the effort, but I learned a valuable lesson. Imagine if instead of a tiny bird it had been a dangerous predator with fangs and claws
Coyotes like racoons and a load of other random north American animals actually make weirdly solid pets. Just not your normal suburban pet tho.
If you like out in the sticks and have a bunch of other dogs coyotes end up being fine. They integrate ok into existing packs.
Coyotes have evidence of being kept like dogs for over a 1000 years all over the Americas. Not nearly as wide spread as dogs. But not all that uncommon either.
Hell the few times in recent times someone’s tried to domesticate coyotes they just turn into dogs basically. How we ended up with coydogs, and then if you don’t try to keep the coyote in them they sorta just breed out after a few generations of modern dogs in the gene pool.
Honestly the bigger problem is a coyote is smart, coydogs and their various breeds are kinda all stupid as fuck. Yet to see a hybrid breed that retains any level of intelligence.
So you end up with something as stubborn and willful as a husky and as stupid as a rock. Not a great combo…
An adult or a pup? That’s going to make a big difference. You’ll never be able to domesticate it in one or two generations, but depending on temperament and dedication you could probably have a coyote that allows you to live in proximity to it after a year if you spent all your time working with it. But never turn your back on it.
A pup would obviously be easier. But I still wouldn’t turn my back on it.
They worked on domesticating foxes in Russia for decades. Selective breeding for less aggression and fear. It’s funny, the domesticated ones start looking slightly more like dogs, with some even getting floppy ears and little curly tails. I assume it would be similar for coyotes.
Not sure if you can still buy one, but it’ll easily cost more than $10K US. And while they’re definitely cute, they make terrible pets. That article doesn’t mention it, but they also have a rather intense odor. Your house will never be the same.
Growing up in the late 80s we had lots of crazy pets, I was about 5 or 6 when we adopted a timber wolf (Eastern Wolf) and I named it Babe. I remember it was a baby when we got it (I think it was rescued after a wildfire) and about two years later we had to reintroduce it to the wild. It wasn’t because it tried to hurt us or anything but it was starting to do things like stopping our oldest dog from eating and I think there were complaints from our neighbors (we lived in Gulfport Florida so that stuff happened a lot but could have played into it).
I think back every now and then and remember his coat, it was so thick and soft while still feeling kinda stiff, he slept in the bed with me and we were pretty much inseparable.
Well said. In addition, think of the sheer number and severity of maulings we have from existing domesticated breeds. Now extrapolate to a wild and only habituated animal.
Curly tails and floppy ears are a generql sign of domestication. It’s a shame, really. The wild animals look so majestic, while their pet counterparts look very unserious.
It might even be inevitable. Even humans display “domestication syndrome” in comparison with our closest primate relatives, and bonobos also seem to have changed in analogous ways when they became more sociable.
Williams syndrome is a rare condition in humans that causes them to have particular facial features, a very friendly and extroverted personality, and some intellectual disability. It occurs when a certain chunk of genes are deleted in development.
Dogs have an equivalent region in their DNA, and friendliness in dogs and wolves seems to correspond to which variant they have for one of the relevant genes. So our domestication efforts are kind of like breeding the closest thing we can manage to a disability into them.
If you grabbed a wild coyote, and started feeding it, how long would it take before the animal, if not fully tame, would at least not bite the hand that feeds it?
A few beers and it should be good. Coyotes love a good beer.
Wild animals are wild.
I once rescued an injured duckling from our cat and nursed it back to health.
I fed and watered it several times a day while it convalesced. Each time I reached my hand in the box that tiny adorable creature thrashed its wings and bit my fingers.
After about 3 days I had had enough of it biting the hand that feeds. It was barely larger than a marshmallow but it was kicking my ass.
I decided it must be strong enough so I returned it to its mother, who was conveniently still in the nearby pond. It launched itself toward her and literally ran across the water to be reunited.
That part was touching, so I guess it was worth the effort, but I learned a valuable lesson. Imagine if instead of a tiny bird it had been a dangerous predator with fangs and claws
Coyotes like racoons and a load of other random north American animals actually make weirdly solid pets. Just not your normal suburban pet tho.
If you like out in the sticks and have a bunch of other dogs coyotes end up being fine. They integrate ok into existing packs.
Coyotes have evidence of being kept like dogs for over a 1000 years all over the Americas. Not nearly as wide spread as dogs. But not all that uncommon either.
Hell the few times in recent times someone’s tried to domesticate coyotes they just turn into dogs basically. How we ended up with coydogs, and then if you don’t try to keep the coyote in them they sorta just breed out after a few generations of modern dogs in the gene pool.
Honestly the bigger problem is a coyote is smart, coydogs and their various breeds are kinda all stupid as fuck. Yet to see a hybrid breed that retains any level of intelligence.
So you end up with something as stubborn and willful as a husky and as stupid as a rock. Not a great combo…
I bet if you had tried for 4 day it would totally have worked.
Gambling addictions are real
An adult or a pup? That’s going to make a big difference. You’ll never be able to domesticate it in one or two generations, but depending on temperament and dedication you could probably have a coyote that allows you to live in proximity to it after a year if you spent all your time working with it. But never turn your back on it.
A pup would obviously be easier. But I still wouldn’t turn my back on it.
They worked on domesticating foxes in Russia for decades. Selective breeding for less aggression and fear. It’s funny, the domesticated ones start looking slightly more like dogs, with some even getting floppy ears and little curly tails. I assume it would be similar for coyotes.
Not sure if you can still buy one, but it’ll easily cost more than $10K US. And while they’re definitely cute, they make terrible pets. That article doesn’t mention it, but they also have a rather intense odor. Your house will never be the same.
Growing up in the late 80s we had lots of crazy pets, I was about 5 or 6 when we adopted a timber wolf (Eastern Wolf) and I named it Babe. I remember it was a baby when we got it (I think it was rescued after a wildfire) and about two years later we had to reintroduce it to the wild. It wasn’t because it tried to hurt us or anything but it was starting to do things like stopping our oldest dog from eating and I think there were complaints from our neighbors (we lived in Gulfport Florida so that stuff happened a lot but could have played into it).
I think back every now and then and remember his coat, it was so thick and soft while still feeling kinda stiff, he slept in the bed with me and we were pretty much inseparable.
Well said. In addition, think of the sheer number and severity of maulings we have from existing domesticated breeds. Now extrapolate to a wild and only habituated animal.
Curly tails and floppy ears are a generql sign of domestication. It’s a shame, really. The wild animals look so majestic, while their pet counterparts look very unserious.
Piebald coloration has also been found to be a marker of domestication too, although there isn’t much of a good explanation for it yet - https://susancrockford.substack.com/p/thyroid-hormone-and-spotted-coats
Wild people looked very majestic (+ tails), while their domesticated counterparts look very unserious and unhealthy. ☝🏽🤓
Sorry)
TIL that not pinching off my poo is majestic
It might even be inevitable. Even humans display “domestication syndrome” in comparison with our closest primate relatives, and bonobos also seem to have changed in analogous ways when they became more sociable.
Williams syndrome is a rare condition in humans that causes them to have particular facial features, a very friendly and extroverted personality, and some intellectual disability. It occurs when a certain chunk of genes are deleted in development.
Dogs have an equivalent region in their DNA, and friendliness in dogs and wolves seems to correspond to which variant they have for one of the relevant genes. So our domestication efforts are kind of like breeding the closest thing we can manage to a disability into them.
https://www.aip.org/inside-science/rare-human-syndrome-may-explain-why-dogs-are-so-friendly
Honestly depends on the animal. The biting will probably stay depending. It’s one of the ways alot of animals communicate in the wild. Little nibbles
Probably about 7 hands.