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Coyotes are good jumpers: they can get all four feet about 48 inches off the ground. They are able to lift their front feet nearly twice that high.

Throughout human history, coyotes have been known as Creators and Destroyers, Tricksters and clever Simpletons. They are paradoxes on four legs.

Perhaps the reason we humans can’t seem to neatly categorize the coyote is because it is one of the most adaptable animals in the world. Canis latrans can change its breeding practices, diet and even social dynamics to survive in a wide variety of habitats. And coyotes have taken to our cities in big ways.

Coyotes execel at adapting to our cities—even ones as large as San Francisco. ©Matt Knoth/Shutterstock.com

In fact, a conservative estimate of the number of coyotes currently living in Cook County, Illinois—the second-most populous county in the U.S. after Los Angeles County, California—is more than 2,000. Our cities don’t seem to offer many obstacles: coyotes can easily leap an eight-foot wall and have been spotted climbing over a 14-foot cyclone fence. Coyotes have good senses of smelling, seeing and hearing, which—when coupled with evasiveness—enables them to survive both in the wild and right under our noses.

Watch this video and then consider whether we want to add “Hider in Plain Sight” to our list of coyote categories.

Here’s to finding your true places and natural habitats,

Candy