Until now, coyotes have been safely keeping their biggest secret to themselves: their pups. But they will soon be taking the youngsters on wider and wider treks away from their dens, usually when it’s dark and when we humans aren’t around. If you are vigilant, even now you might be able to spot a youngster with a parent through an opening in the foliage if you are lucky.

Coyotes live in family units, not packs of unrelated individuals. We have a number of coyote families living in the city of San Francisco. Coyotes mate for life, and both parents raise the young and watch out for their safety — we’re talking about real family life here. It’s hard not to admire a species that puts so much effort into maintaining their own monogamous relationship and into the care and safety of their youngsters. Parents play with, bring food to, groom, defend, lead family outings, teach, tease and discipline their youngsters, not so differently from the way humans do: coyote life is about family life. Each family claims a territory from which other coyotes are kept out. This insures that there will be enough resources for the family unit.

How to get along with coyotes? Treat them as you would any other wild animal, such as a skunk or raccoon, by moving away from them and keeping your dogs away from them, which can only be done by leashing up! Leashing will keep your dog from chasing a coyote, and it will keep your dog close to you, thus discouraging a coyote from coming in closer to your dog. Coyotes will do their utmost to avoid humans and human encounters, so the issue isn’t about you. However, although they’ll shy away from people, they may give territorial messages to dogs who come too close, the same as they do to any other non-family coyote who might potentially threaten their territorial claims: this could result in a nip to your dog’s haunches — cattle-dog fashion — to get the dog to leave the area. And small pets may look like any other prey to them: so please leash your pets in known coyote areas and don’t allow them to roam free. Coyotes have been spotted wandering through virtually every park in San Francisco.

Everyone with a dog should know how to shoo off a coyote who has come too close — it’s know-how that’s needed just in case there’s an unexpected encounter. Simply harassing a coyote with screams, flailing arms and making yourself look big is often not effective. Coyotes get used to this and eventually ignore it as meaningless and quirky human behavior. It’s best actually to, 1) approach or charge towards the coyote, and to, 2) do so menacingly as though you’re out to get them, by eyeballing them with eye-to-eye contact and yelling “SCRAM, get out of here!” Often, your piercing gaze into their eyes alone is enough to get them to move on.

However — and this is an all-important caveat — if they absolutely do not move, it will be because pups are close by. In this case, it’s best to keep the peace by respecting their need to keep you out of the area they won’t move from: just back away rather than provoke an incident, without running. If one follows you, turn and face the coyote — he’s unlikely to come closer with your eyes glaring at him. However, if he just stands there, again, try charging in his direction as described above to get him off of your tail. As always, prevention is the best medicine — always keep your distance in the first place.

For a basic review of coyote behavior and simple coexistence guidelines, take a look at “Coyotes As Neighbors”, a YouTube video presentation found at the top of the page of the coyotecoexistence.com website, or press this link to go directly to YouTube: https://youtu.be/euG7R11aXq0. By knowing about coyotes, you’ll be able to deal better with an unexpected contingency. If you have specific issues, please contact the folks at coyotecoexistence@gmail.com. They are there to help you.

[Editor’s note: San Francisco resident Janet Kessler has spent seven years documenting urban wildlife in the city, particularly coyotes. Her photos have appeared in the Randall Museum, the San Francisco Main Library, and the Seed Gallery in the Presidio. This series of her photos captures local coyotes engaged in an activity that’s tough even for people – raising kids in San Francisco.]

Coyotes are among the 3-5 percent of mammal species that mate for life, and parents raise pups cooperatively. Except for loners and transients, coyotes live in nuclear families not so different from our own. Parents display lots of overt affection and playfulness – and even seem to plan ahead.

TEASING AND PLAY: In this mother/son photo, the son was playing with a dead rat. He was tossing it up in the air and catching it, while remaining lying down. Then the mother walked by and snatched the rat from under her son’s nose, instigating a game of chase, and finally a tug-of-war. (Mom is the one with the rat in her mouth.) I watched to see who would end up with the rat, but when one coyote stopped the game and let go, so did the other, and they both ran off together, leaving the rat behind.

FACILITATING  LEARNING: I watched this mother coyote catch and kill a vole, and then carry it a considerable distance away — about 700 feet — to this spot, where I sometimes have seen her very young and tiny pups play. No pups were there when this occurred. She carefully made a little indentation in the earth with her snout, placed the vole in it, and then covered the prey with dirt, again using her snout. Then she walked off. The next day, she took the pups to this location, where a pup caught whiff of the vole and went for it.

DISCIPLINE: Coyotes, like humans, shape the behavior of their pups. Coyote youngsters learn quickly by imitating their elders, and by reading their communication. But sometimes this is not enough, so a parent may resort to a mild clenching of the youngster’s snout, as here, where a mother disciplines a six-month-old.

GREETINGS: When coyotes greet each other there is a lot of body and snout contact, as well as squealing and wiggling. Here you see the daughter on the left in her wiggly-squiggly mode, greeting Mom who, in the various shots I took, had to keep her eyes closed to protect them! Mom initiated the greeting by running over to the youngster from about 200 feet away. After the short greeting mother and daughter ran off together.

DADS: I’ve seen coyote dads caring for very young pups while Mom was off in the distance. Interestingly, I’ve also seen both parents away from the youngsters for long periods of time. I’ve seen Dad disciplining them, and I’ve seen him step forward when dogs appeared near his foraging pups. Coyotes appear very protective of their young family members, which is why we need to keep dogs far away from them. Dads also bring home food. When the pups are young, Dad comes home with food in his stomach, which he regurgitates for the youngsters. As the pups get older, he brings whole voles and gophers. Here a pup is checking to see if Dad has anything for her.

COMMUNICATION: Young coyotes constantly look at their parents for feedback. They also communicate through a variety of vocalizations. Just recently I became aware of a father’s several barks after a family “howling with the sirens” session, which indicated, “It’s time to hush.”

LIVING WITH COYOTES: This informational video is based on first-hand observations and photos. The video covers behaviors you can expect if you see a coyote in an urban setting, and steps you should take if you find yourself unexpectedly in the wrong circumstances with a coyote, especially if you have a dog.