Relatively little information has been published on coyotes in the eastern United States, particularly the mid-Atlantic region, the last area to be colonized by coyotes. A new publication by NWRC summarizes what is known about coyote ecology in the mid-Atlantic states of Delaware, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and West Virginia. Below are some of the more interesting facts.
Coyotes began moving eastward from their historic range around 1900.
Reports of coyotes in the mid-Atlantic states were first made in northern Pennsylvania in the late 1930s.
Eastern coyotes are larger than their western counterparts and sometimes display melanistic (black) coats.
The largest recorded female eastern coyote weighed 25.1 kg/55 lbs.
Eastern coyotes have hybridized with eastern wolves and red wolves.
In 2005, 35,000 cattle and calves worth > $20 million dollars were lost to coyotes in the eastern U.S., three times the number lost in 1991.
Relatively little information has been published on coyotes in the eastern United States, particularly the mid-Atlantic region, the last area to be colonized by coyotes. A new