![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() As I now know, this orchestra of yowls is produced by a mated and territorial pair of “alpha” coyotes, with the male howling while the female intersperses her yips, barks, and short howls. The rapid changing in pitch and overlapping of starting and stopping blends together to seem as if it could only be produced by a very large group. This coyote chorus gives the impression that there is a large group of very healthy animals very close by. It's also a demonstration of an auditory illusion referred to as the “beau geste” effect, named for the novel “Beau Geste”, in which French troops prop up their dead in an effort to make the opposing army believe they have a much larger force than they really do. This sound is really something remarkable, making folks that grew up like us in the suburbs realize that they are actually in the woods. Imagine the sound of 3 wounded dogs, 5 hyenas after a successful kill, and a full bachelorette party trying to call a cab after a long night out. It is nothing like the howling of a wolf, or the barking of a dog, instead it’s a wild cacophony of high pitched yipping, yowling, and screeching. It's very different than what I was expecting, although I'd never heard coyotes before. Last fall after a summer of incredibly peaceful and fairly uneventful camping out in our new orchard, Denise and I discovered what a wild pack of coyotes sounds like at night. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |