Coyotes use scent communication as well, regularly marking off their territorial boundaries with urine and feces, which tells intruders that another coyote is living here and to stay out. Disease such as rabies and hookworm also take their toll. There is a chemical known as 1080 that is meant to poison the coyotes, but ends up doing a whole lot more to the ecosystem than just killing coyotes. The poison gets into everything, like water and grass, and every animal within a large area of where there is 1080 poison is killed. Sespite extremely heavy hunting pressures, coyotes flourish throughout their range.
Coyotes replace wolves as the top predators in areas where the wolf has been eliminated.
Just like red foxes, there are more coyotes now than there were over 200 years ago. Their range and numbers are spreading, and they are able to be successful since they can eat virtually anything and do not require extensive home ranges and large packs. There are many subspecies of coyote, each one distinguished by where it lives, its size and coloration. Wolves and Wild Dogs of the World . They have information on all the known species of canids, as well as setting up projects to help save endangered canids.