Coyote America

March 9, 2019 3:30 PM - by Dan Flores

Legends don't come close to capturing the incredible story of the coyote In the face of centuries of campaigns of annihilation employing gases, helicopters, and engineered epidemics, coyotes didn't just survive, they thrived, expanding across the continent from Alaska to New York. In the war between humans and coyotes, coyotes have won, hands-down... A deeply American tale the story of the coyote in the American West and beyond is a sort of Manifest Destiny in reverse, with a pioneering hero whose career holds up an uncanny mirror to the successes and failures of American expansionism.

This book is a look at one of America's most unjustly reviled animals, the coyote, Canis latrans. Dan Flores chronicles the evolution of the animal to it's tendency to survive in the face of all odds, showing that the story of the coyote is a perfect mirror to the imperfect story of America.

posted by Homo neanderthalensis (2 comments total)

This whole book is a myth buster, and of all the animals we share our space with, I think the coyote is the one with the most damaging myths swirling around them. There was a fpp not too long ago where otherwise intelligent and rational mefites were spreading those myths and insistent that they were correct- its a very easy blind spot to have. I was drawn to this book at first because of that fpp, I wanted to learn more, and boy did I ever. A lot of the negative myths around coyotes are directly connected to racist myths about various peoples and this book makes a good connection between the two. I highly recommend this book to anyone who want's to learn more not only about the coyote, but America in general.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 4:35 PM on March 9, 2019 [5 favorites]

Oh, I loved this book! I found it totally randomly in my library's audiobooks. I'll probably wind up getting a hardcopy for my shelf. I had no idea about the extermination efforts that went on from the government.
posted by curious nu at 6:51 PM on March 9, 2019 [2 favorites]