Coyotes in GURPS

The coyote, sometimes called the American jackal, brush wolf, or prairie wolf, is a wiley and cunning wild dog of North America. It is one of the fastest wild dogs, and has a remarkable ability to thrive in the face of human persecution. Villefied and ruthelessly hunted because of its supposed depredations on livestock, the coyote is nevertheless more populous than it was before Europeans came to the Americas.

Coyotes forage alone or in small family groups. They eat primarily small animals and insects, but will scavenge and take larger game if the opportunity presents itself. Coyotes keep in touch with other members of their pack with their eerie yipping howls, the same howls also helps to warn other packs off their hunting territory.

With the extermination of the wolf and the red wolf in the Eastern United States, coyotes have taken on the role of the area's large coursing predator, preying upon the abundant deer population. They have evolved to suit their new more wolf-like role by acquiring increased body size.

A number of species that can be treated as coyotes, both living and extinct, are listed below:

• Canis latrans is the usual critter one thinks of when "coyote" is mentioned. It is the only animal in this list that is currently alive. It evolved from the gray wolf Canis lupus in the mid Pleistocene.
• Canis ferox was a coyote-sized wolf from North America during the mid Miocene to early Pliocene.
• Canis cedazoensis is a coyote-like wolf from North America's Pliocene until the mid Pleistocene, when it was replaced by the modern coyote.
• Canis lepophagus or Johnston's Coyote is a coyote-sized wolf from North America's Miocene to early Pleistocene.

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