Leader of the Pack - October 2005 Update By Jessica Teal

Yup, that"s right, there's not one or two scattered coyotes on Livingston Campus, there's more like ten or twelve in the huge pack we encountered at jogger-hotspot, Avenue E, about 50 yards from the Metlars Lane, Davidson Road intersection. It was while driving back towards Busch Campus around 11:00 PM that Ray and I recently encountered a fleet of our furry friends playing in the fields O" Scarlet on the right hand side of the road. I actually saw the coyotes first and nearly caused badly-distracted Ray to crash when I shrilled "There they are! pull over! It"s them!". Ray, a man of lightning-quick reflexes and poor traffic law knowledge immediately hung an illegal U-turn in order to get back to what I had seen, while I fumbled uselessly with the recording equipment. Alas, most of the pack had fled by the time we got the camcorder going, but we did get some shots of the urbanized beasties - mostly of their glowing eyes which regarded us with a seeming disdain before trotting off to join the rest in the woods.

In retrospect, I am astonished by what I saw because the coyotes were such an assorted, mixed group - there were little ones, medium-sized ones and a few really big ones that looked more like your classic wolf heading the pack. Under the streetlights, some of them looked more grey and some more brown though one thing is certain; they all had the big, long, dragging tails and the low trotting-creeping gait that is characteristic of coyotes, wolves and foxes. It was the size of the ring leaders (two) that actually frightened me because they looked much bigger than the sad specimens you can see in the nearby Johnson"s park zoo.

So again, there is confirmation of a pack of coyotes on Livingston that don't seem too fazed by the college traffic and nearby intersection of Avenue E and Metlars Lane. Joggers beware!

Supplement by Ray Brennan

As Jessica mentioned in her account, she was the first to see the pack of coyotes in all their glory. Luckily, we turned around quick enough to see them before they all left their spot at the edge of the woods. There was one on the left that stared back at us, and we could see this one clearly. There was an even larger one on the right who stayed the longest to stare us down while the others slowly made their way back into the woods. This one was the largest and probably the leader of the pack. I did all I could with what little footage we captured, both with the digital camera and the camcorder. With the still digital images, the glowing green eyes can be seen clearly. As the flash from the camera went off, enough light was generated for the camcorder to pick up better images. The still was enhanced to show at least three coyotes in the shot, the middle one which is standing so that its entire body length can be seen, and the other two facing us. In another enhanced shot, the area where the coyotes remained was singled out, showing the possibility of a few others in the shot. The glowing eyes from the reflection of the flash helped to identify their positions. Some footage was captured of one of the coyotes running back into the woods, and the clip is shown below. Watch for movement toward the right hand side of the image and the lighter color of the tail as it runs into the woods. It is difficult to pick up, but you can see it if you look hard enough.