The coyote, Canis latrans, is one of North America’s most successful and widespread predators. Grasslands represent the coyote’s historical and preferred home range, answering the question of their presence with a clear affirmative. Coyotes are generalist survivors whose ecological presence is strongest in the vast, open plains.
The Coyote’s Preferred Grassland Habitat
The expansive, open nature of grasslands—including prairies, savannas, and shrub-steppes—provides the coyote with a highly suitable environment for hunting and survival. These areas offer unobstructed sightlines, which are important for a predator relying on keen eyesight and hearing to spot prey movements from a distance. Coyotes commonly hunt in these open to semi-open areas, using the terrain to their advantage.
While the plains are open, coyotes still require secure locations for resting and raising their young. For denning, they often select areas that offer protective cover, such as small thickets, riparian zones, or patches of taller grasses. They typically do not dig a new den from scratch, but rather enlarge existing burrows created by animals like badgers or woodchucks. This combination of open hunting grounds and nearby secure cover confirms the grassland as a naturally supportive habitat.
Foraging Strategies and Prey in Open Environments
Life in the open grassland dictates a foraging strategy centered on small, abundant prey, making the coyote’s diet varied and opportunistic. The bulk of their consumption consists of small mammals, such as voles, mice, ground squirrels, and rabbits. They also consume insects like grasshoppers, and supplement their diet seasonally with fruits and berries.
The coyote employs a specialized hunting technique for tiny, scurrying prey known as the “pounce.” The coyote leaps high into the air and drives its forepaws down sharply to pin the rodent to the ground. While coyotes often hunt alone or in pairs to efficiently capture small items, they will cooperate to take down larger animals. Group hunting is sometimes used for more challenging prey, such as young deer fawns or jackrabbits.
The Coyote’s Unmatched Adaptability
The coyote’s flourishing presence in grasslands represents a facet of its broader ecological triumph across North America. This species originally evolved in the western plains and deserts, but the removal of larger competitors, such as the gray wolf, allowed it to expand its range exponentially. Today, the coyote is found in almost every state and in habitats far removed from its ancestral home.
This unparalleled ecological success is driven by a capacity to adjust its behavior and diet to nearly any environment it encounters. Beyond prairies, coyotes now thrive in forests, mountains, swamps, and dense urban areas. Their ability to subsist on anything from carrion and small rodents to human-provided food demonstrates a flexibility few other mammals can match.