Update January 31, 2008. New capture: Coyote “Coak” radio-collared in West Barnstable!               My students (at Barnstable High School) and I just returned from Dr. Larry Venezia’s clinic, the Hyannis Animal Hospital, with a feisty 26.6 lb 2-3 year (young) adult coyote.  We named her “Coak” as she was captured near Oak St. We also gave her an ID # of 0804. She is easily the smallest adult female that we have captured in our study area (most are 30-35 lb). She is very healthy with plenty of fat and had some blood on her vulva indicating that she is finishing (or finished) pre-estrus (her seasonal, once a year, period) and will soon be (or is in) estrus (heat). This makes sense because coyotes mate now so they can give birth around April 1.             When I approached the trap this morning I heard a second coyote trot off into the woods as I approached. So, clearly she was with another coyote. This is great news because a coyote that small could easily not be able to secure a territory due to her small size. However, she was very feisty and was difficult to sedate and never went fully under as her eyes were open the entire time. I bet her demeanor allows her to also be successful in the wild, either when hunting or when interacting with other coyotes.  Luckily I put a radio-collar on her and got her back in the trap before she fully woke up. Interestingly, the circumference of the collar was the size of Raider’s collar (33.8 cm), meaning that her neck and shoulders were fairly large for a small animal (note: her head was so obviously small that I immediately knew she was a female upon first seeing her).             She is also one of the roughly 10-20 percent of coyotes that growled at me while captured. Most just put their heads down and act very submissively. She was clearly not impressed with the whole ordeal and I look forward to letting her go at 6 PM tonight so she can be wild and free again, hopefully finding her anxious mate (assuming that was her mate whom I heard). Good luck Coak, we will be monitoring you! Update on Feb. 1. I did let her go at 6 pm, in the quiet dark with a couple of my students. She bursted out of the cage like an Olympic sprinter out of the blocks. Within an hour she had traveled about a mile to the east and had obviously found her pack as I heard a loud group howl. Usually, coyotes go sleep off the effects of the sedative soon after getting released. Coak is different. She has a certain spunk that makes up for her small stature. Clearly she is part of a social group; now I just need to document her group's territory and how large it is. It will be interesting!            Update Feb. 9. Contrary to observations on Feb. 1, subsequent sightings indicate that she travels alone (I have seen her through my night-vision scope 3-4 times). And today she is over 5 miles to the east near the Yarmouth town line. I was hoping that she would be a resident female but it looks like she might be a yearling coyote (almost 2 years old) and might be in the process of dispersing to a new area. Dispersing coyotes are nearly impossible to track and we often lose track of them when the leave the town of Barnstable and surrounding areas. It would certainly be disappointing to lose track of her but not surprising. Many of our coyotes eventually leave the area where we captured them.   Here are a few pictures of her capture:    Coak on exam table.    Coak with radio-collar.    Coak in my arms just before I put her back in the trap to wake up from the sedatives. This picture does not do justice for how small she is (26.6 lb and healthy) compared to most of our prior captures. Yet, her feisty attitude in the trap, I bet, is how she is also successful competing in the wild (versus prey and other coyotes).