Once revered by Native Americans, coyotes became enemies of the people after the arrival of white settlers.
JAVELINA KNOCKING AT MY DOOR FREE
But the misguided war that humans waged against wildlife only helped to wipe out coyotes’ larger and stronger natural competitors making them even more resilient.Ĭoyotes used to roam free in the open prairies of the West - image:©david-nieto/unsplash On their way to conquer new lands, coyotes had to deal with legions of hunters armed with poison, guns and traps. Then, as wolf packs and mountain lions receded from the landscape due to human intervention, this versatile canine spread unhindered to most of North America. Here, a stone’s throw from the teeming 405 freeway, coyotes found a home.įor eons, coyotes roamed the open prairies of the West. There are lizards thermoregulating on the sizzling Cali rocks and elusive rattlesnakes resting under wood piles. There are raccoons, opossums and skunks preying on mice while eagles soar overhead and supercharged hummingbirds sip nectar out of native plants. The teeming metropolis of Los Angeles - image:©denys-nevozhai/unsplashĪlong the incline, desert cottontails rest under shrub canopies and arboreal gray squirrels collect acorns.
JAVELINA KNOCKING AT MY DOOR PATCH
Here, a few steps from an army of Google tech-geeks, a postage stamp-sized patch of wildlife still endures even under pressure from the insatiable appetite of a goliath metropolis that won’t stop growing. When I am not studying dolphins and whales at sea, this bluff is the closest nature I can experience on foot. As we stroll, the mutt and I sniff blossoming spring flowers, green grass and the sporadic whiffs of methane leaking out of the ground below us. This is an upscale commercial and housing development - with homes that go for over two million dollars - foolishly placed on top of large underground pockets of highly flammable methane gas.Īlong the still untouched natural bluff overlooking Playa Vista, with is a view of Los Angeles spanning from the sea to the Hollywood sign, I walk my dog on the dirt trails that leave stretch marks across the slope. Down the hill, the once pristine wetland marsh rich with endemic species has been slowly chewed away by the Playa Vista enclave. My house sits near the top of a quiet Westside residential knoll of Los Angeles, less than ten minutes from the Pacific Ocean. What Nextdoor doesn’t mention in its friendly “connect with our neighborhoods” advertisement, is that’s also the place to rant about the most mundane, self-centered things one can conceive of.Īs a behavioral ecologist, the latest bouts of some nextdoorians affected me personally because they went after a local species that I love and respect: the coyote.Ī coyote in California - image:©joshua-wilking/unsplash Where neighbors exchange recommendations for babysitters, plans for local events, and tips about what to order at that new cafe down the street. It’s the “local hub to connect and share with the neighborhood.The place where communities come together to keep a local shopkeeper in business. They have a place to say all these things: it’s called Nextdoor. They say we should build a Trump-style wall between us and them to protect ourselves. They say we must shoot them if they cross our path.
They say they are going to eat our children playing in the backyard and take away our freedom to be outside. Here in our suburban neighborhood, they say coyotes are walking in packs among us. They say coyotes are at my door but I must have been out because I missed them today.
The beauty of a coyote - image:©priss-henry/unsplash In our attempt to put nature in order, a versatile animal teaches us an essential lesson.
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