The American West, Ep. 20: Coyote—America’s Jackal and Its Roller-Coaster Ride Through History

Host: MeatEater
Guest/Narrator: Dan Flores
Date: January 27, 2026

Overview:

In this episode of The American West, writer and historian Dan Flores explores the rich, tumultuous, and often paradoxical saga of the coyote—a creature revered as deity by Indigenous Americans, condemned as a varmint by settlers, and ultimately an unlikely winner in the natural history of North America. Flores weaves a narrative that tracks the animal’s ancient past, its resilience amid human attempts at extermination, its transformation into a cosmopolitan urban dweller, and its ongoing story as both symbol and survivor.

Main Sections and Key Points

1. The Coyote in American Imagination and Folklore

• Coyotes as Story Subjects: For at least 10,000 years, coyotes have inspired human storytellers, from ancient Indigenous folklore to classic American literature.
  • “[Coyotes] have been inspiring human storytellers for more than 10,000 years.” – Dan Flores [02:05]
• Allegorical Power:
  • Story of "Tito," the clever coyote by Thompson Seton (1900), offered an allegorical explanation of coyote survival: that coyotes “learned” from human attempts at extermination and passed this knowledge to their pups.
    • “Tito is a charming story belonging to a genre the literati among us would call allegory." – Dan Flores [05:26]
• Indigenous Perspectives:
  • In Indigenous lore, the coyote (with a capital C) stands as the oldest American deity—hero, trickster, fool, and creator—embodying both the vulnerabilities and ingenuity of humans.
    • “Coyote with a capital C is not only a native deity from the Paleolithic...the oldest American God, the of which we have a record as Old Man America.” – Randall [09:32]

2. Early European and American Views: From Curiosity to Contempt

• Initial Confusion: Early European Americans had no experience with coyotes—unlike with wolves or foxes—and struggled to categorize them, initially labeling them as "prairie wolf".
• Shift from Reverence to Varmint: By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, attitudes soured. Public figures like Mark Twain mocked the coyote (“a living, breathing allegory of want” [03:15]), and others labeled them contemptible, even politically subversive ("the original Bolshevik, the original communist" as per a Scientific American article, c. 1920).
• “The bar then was high...”: Flores notes that while coyotes were being anthropomorphized in stories, real-world policies sought their total eradication.
• Government and Bounties: States issued large-scale bounties, and biological warfare (e.g., introduction of sarcoptic mange) was wielded against canid populations.

3. War on Coyotes: Science, Policy, and the Unintended Consequences

• The Era of Extermination:
  • Federal, state, and local campaigns targeted coyotes with shooting, poisoning, trapping, and den-blowing, killing millions between 1915 and 1972—but the population grew rather than declined.
  • “Eight and a half million coyotes [were] killed.” – Dan Flores [21:00]
• Ecology vs. Policy:
  • Government predator control policies were ideologically motivated and largely absent of scientific grounding.
    • “The most vicious war of extermination we ever attempted against a native animal took place entirely absent of any scientific research…” – Dan Flores [16:55]
  • Studies by Olaus and Adolph Murie showed coyotes were beneficial ecologically, but reports contradicting the policy agenda were ignored or suppressed.
    • “80–90% of what coyotes do in the world is actually beneficial to humans.” – Dan Flores [53:06]
• Adaptive Genius:
  • Coyotes’ remarkable survival strategies include larger litters when under assault and a “fission-fusion” social structure (splitting into smaller groups or pairs), making their eradication practically impossible.
    • “Connolly and Knowlton showed that you could kill 70% of a coyote population year after year without ultimately reducing its numbers. But you very likely did spread them.” – Dan Flores [22:43]
  • “The only thing smarter than a coyote is God.” – Folk wisdom [21:54]

4. Coyotes as Cosmopolitans: Urban Adaptation and National Expansion

• Ubiquitous Neighbors: From Los Angeles to Chicago, New York, and small towns across America, coyotes now thrive in habitats once thought inhospitable.
  • “Our coffee cups steaming the air, we've just stood in the kitchen and looked outside. In one of the most intriguing wildlife stories of our time… everyone in America is now getting to see small Western wolves out the kitchen windows.” – Dan Flores [26:41]
• Symbol of the Wild Persisting:
  • Flores calls the coyote “the dude, and the dude absolutely abides” [27:40].
  • “No world that has a jackal-like wolf glancing at you as it trots by with houses and highways in the background can ever be said to have banished the wild.” [28:31]
• Personal Stories:
  • Flores shares a vivid dawn encounter with a coyote family in New Mexico, underscoring both their individuality and the everyday magic of their presence.

5. Coyote Conquests: From the U.S. to South America and Beyond

• A Modern Continental Crossing:
  • Coyotes are now spreading through Central America. They crossed the Panama Canal in 2010 and are making their way into Colombia—poised to become the first North American mammal to colonize South America in 3 million years.
  • “As the biologists ... pointed out, man, once they get through Darien National Park and cross into Colombia ... all of South America is in front of them. They're probably going to colonize the entire continent.” – Dan Flores [49:37]
• Parallels with Deep Time Events:
  • The spectacle of a species colonizing a new continent is something usually reserved for prehistoric times, Flores notes, yet it’s occurring in real time.
    • “We're witnessing what we would think of as this ancient sort of unimaginable phenomenon right now. And it just looks like ... a coyote showing up in someone's backyard.” – Interviewer [47:45]

6. Coyotes and Red Wolves: A Genetics Story

• Hybridization and Unexpected Conservation Value:
  • Coyotes in Texas and Louisiana (“ghost wolves”) carry significant red wolf ancestry—some up to 75%.
    • “There are still canids ... carrying red wolf ancestry, often 10% or more. Occasionally, an animal has turned up whose red wolf genes approach 75%.” – Dan Flores [38:58]
  • Biotechnological interventions now use genes preserved by coyotes to help rescue the critically endangered red wolf.
    • “Colossal Biosciences ... genetically engineered dire wolves [and] birthed four cloned red wolf puppies from the lost wolf genetics preserved by these Deep South hybrid coyotes.” – Dan Flores [40:18]

7. From Mythology to Modernity: Individual Coyotes and Human Perceptions

• Seeing Coyotes as Individuals:
  • Flores calls for Americans to recognize individual coyotes—just as we do with pets or urban wildlife celebrities—arguing that such recognition deepens both appreciation and understanding.
    • “Try meeting a coyote halfway and see how it goes.” – Dan Flores [42:12]
• Changing Attitudes:
  • Media now memorialize individual animals (e.g., Yellowstone’s wolf "06", LA’s puma P22), a shift away from seeing wildlife simply as undifferentiated populations.
    • “The world of 21st century human–wildlife coexistence is shifting.” – Dan Flores [41:39]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On coyote resilience:

  “We do everything we can possibly think of to wipe them out. And the result is exactly the opposite of what our intentions are.” – Dan Flores [45:23]

• On the persistence of the wild:

  “No world that has a jackal-like wolf glancing at you...can ever be said to have banished the wild.” – Dan Flores [28:31]

• On the future of coyotes:

  “Their story is far from over...right now, coyotes are on the cusp of becoming the first North American species in 3 million years to cross from this continent into another one.” – Dan Flores [34:46]

• On the shift in how we view wildlife:

  “We humans...have thought of other animals almost entirely in terms of species...But...the evidence is everywhere. The world of 21st century human–wildlife coexistence is shifting.” – Dan Flores [41:39]

• On the lasting impact of attempts at extermination:

  “No amount of doubling down or tripling down, inventing a whole host of new poisons to kill coyotes, none of it ended up working.” – Dan Flores [53:47]

• About nature’s unusual victory:

  “In Coyote America, nature wins. Coyotes have taken everything we humans can throw at them, then calmly occupied the very ground we're standing on.” – Dan Flores [29:09]

Key Timestamps

• 01:16: Randall introduces coyote as "poster animal" of the West
• 07:58: Coyotes at the time of first human arrival in North America
• 15:10: Historical eradication campaigns and policies
• 21:54: Adaptations and population resilience
• 24:30: Personal coyote encounter in New Mexico
• 34:46: Modern and future continental expansion
• 38:58: Red wolf genetics and ghost wolves
• 41:39: Recognition of individual animals
• 45:23: The paradoxical impact of eradication
• 49:36: Colonization of South America
• 53:07: Murie brothers’ studies, government inertia
• 56:05: Nixon and the symbolic end of predator poison campaigns

Tone and Style

• Philosophical, reverent, and rich in historical context
• Blends scientific insight with anecdote, humor, and a strong literary flavor
• Invites the listener into both big-picture thinking and intimate personal observation

Closing Thought

The episode reframes the coyote’s tumultuous relationship with Americans as a story of survival, adaptation, and even triumph—a rare case where “the animal wins.” Flores challenges us to reconsider how we view our wild neighbors, suggesting that in the coyote’s yellow eyes we might find not only wildness, but also a reflection of ourselves.