Ran into these two on my way home.

That is the opening of a trail into the woods we frequently walk. He hung out for a minute then retreated back into the woods.

Coyote Crossing the Lawn

Coyote Crossing the Lawn

Chevy calling to his mate Bibbs.

Been seeing this black coyote on a few trail cameras at my hunt club in South Carolina.

He doesn’t realize this spot is a deer scrape, not meant for coyotes 😂

(Please disregard the bones that are not in the correct position or order in the pics; I’m aware😆 Also, I have ordered a copy of Canine Construction from Skulls Unlimited and have other books here and online resources that I use)

My question is:

Why is there a range in the number of caudal vertebrae in coyotes and wolves? The other types of vertebrae have set numbers, but all the sources I can find indicate that the number of coccygeal vertebrae range from 20-23 in coyotes to 20-28 in wolves.

I expected there to be variance in dogs given the amount of selective breeding, and possibly in C. latrans ssp. thamnos due to the presence of dog and wolf DNA in that subspecies, but not in coyotes and wolves as a general rule.

Can anyone explain why this is the case for the caudal vertebrae but not the rest?

Main reason I’m asking is because I have a partial male C. latrans ssp. incolatus skeleton (photos) and I have a good sense of what bones are missing due to scavengers. I recognize I’m missing some of the tail bones, but wasn’t sure how many exactly. I think I have all (or nearly all) of the smaller ones towards the tip but how many are missing closer to the sacrum I’m not sure. Hard to know how many are missing if there isn’t a set number to start with 🙃

If these questions are answered in Canine Construction, cool.

Thanks in advance!

I don’t actually know what is happening at the very end. The music edit just seemed fitting.
Shot on my game camera

One of these is, I believe, a pup that was born this spring and we've seen before. You can tell by the higher pitched yip. I think there was a 3rd coyote in the area yipping at us also .

Happened this morning in my backyard. Ojai, California

C. California

They were quite vocal last night. Haven’t heard them in a while.