Coyote: Evolutionary Survivor

As anyone who lives among coyotes can tell you, its a master of adaptation. Coyotes have flourished in part by exploiting the changes that people have made to the environment, but their adaptability goes back further than that. 

​Let's look at the coyote's skull. For a closer look at coyote skull anatomy, you can see Skullduggery here.

Skulls have a lot to tell you. They are also cool.

Coyote Evolution

If you dial back 6 million years ago, (And for the record, that's not that long ago, our ancestors were just parting with chimps then,) carnivores had a lot of competition. If you jump through the various ice ages, you'll note that our modern coyotes are puny, fun sized creatures compared to their ancestors. 

Coyotes used to be bigger and badder back in the day. This is turning into every story your grandparents told you, except this one is true.

The wake of the climatic changes that began about 6 million years ago benefited those of the lupine lineage. The world was drying out. Forest was being replaced by scrub and savanna. The opening up of grassy plains and the prey that prospered on them also provided opportunity for fast, long legged predators. 

It could be said, those of the dog family are not tidy eaters.

But that doesn't mean the whole climate change thing working well for everyone. Those larger prey animals, including megafauna, are dying off. 

The coyote's diet turned to creatures of cute and cuddly description. Of course, insects, fish, carrion, and vegetation are still on the coyote option menu.

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Sources

VONHOLDT, B. M., POLLINGER, J. P., EARL, D. A., KNOWLES, J. C., BOYKO, A. R., PARKER, H., GEFFEN, E., PILOT, M., JEDRZEJEWSKI, W., JEDRZEJEWSKA, B., SIDOROVICH, V., GRECO, C., RANDI, E., MUSIANI, M., KAYS, R., BUSTAMANTE, C. D., OSTRANDER, E. A., NOVEMBRE, J. AND WAYNE, R. K.A genome-wide perspective on the evolutionary history of enigmatic wolf-like canidsIn-text: (vonHoldt et al.)
Bibliography: vonHoldt, Bridgett M. et al. 'A Genome-Wide Perspective On The Evolutionary History Of Enigmatic Wolf-Like Canids'. Genome Research 21.8 (2011): 1294-1305. Web. 24 Nov. 2015.