This is why you’re seeing more of it now

Recently I was standing in the driveway of my home in Northeast Rockford when I noticed what I thought was a fairly large dog trotting down the street past my house.

Since I live in a neighborhood where there are a lot of dog owners, it is not unusual to see a dog walking by, but it is usually attached to a leash and to the human holding the leash. That was not the case this time. This “dog” did the route solo. As you already understood, this was not a dog. This was a coyote, and in the days following this sighting I saw several more at different times of the day.

If your knowledge of coyotes is limited to cartoons, you’re probably shocked to learn that coyotes sometimes do other things (like make little coyotes) besides ordering defective ACME products and chasing roadrunners, without any success.

From my understanding of biology and reproduction, the Illinois coyote mating season, which occurs in February and March, brings more coyotes to our state—But how many do we have in Illinois already?

Quite a few, and certainly more than a few months ago. Coyotes across Illinois are now producing litters of 5 to 7 coyote pups, and they will continue to do so until the end of May.

Here’s something about coyote populations that I didn’t know until recently, courtesy of ReptileKnowledge.com (yes, I know coyotes aren’t reptiles, but this site had great information):

With the exception of Hawaii, coyotes live throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. More coyotes exist today than when the U.S. Constitution was signed. Almost no animal in America is better at adapting to changing conditions than the coyote. Coyotes can live just about anywhere.

When I did some more digging, I discovered that these states have the largest coyote populations in the country:

• Texel: 859.510
• California: 250,000
• Arizona: 200,000
• Kansas: 150,000
• New Mexico: 125,000
• Arkansas: 106,360
• Pennsylvania: 100,000
• Georgia: 90,000

Even though Illinois isn’t one of the states with the highest coyote populations, we certainly have a lot of them, and the numbers are growing

According to KaneCountyPets.com: “Coyotes were rare
Illinois for a long time after the establishment of the state, but their numbers
increased dramatically in the 1970s and early 1980s.”

As for their total numbers in Illinois, BND.com estimates the number at 110,000 coyotes:

According to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the coyote population in Illinois is estimated at more than 30,000. However, surveys conducted by the Illinois Natural History Survey between 2013 and 2017 estimate that the population is between 54,000 And 110,000.

Another fact about Illinois coyotes that I was surprised to learn is that few coyotes live longer than 3 to 4 years. The oldest coyote found in a study conducted in Illinois between 1996 and 1997 was 13 years old.