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![\"coyote](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/coyote-5676-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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We found that\u00a0animal and two buddies near the marina just after sunrise.\u00a0They were resting in the grass, perhaps in anticipation of another hunting foray out onto the 7 mile long causeway which begins nearby.\u00a0The injured coyote is a little hard to see here but look for its ears sticking up out of the grass between the other two coyotes.<\/p>\n
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![\"coyote](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/coyote-4592-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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The injury to its snout still looks severe but to my eye it does seem to be healing slowly.<\/p>\n
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![\"coyote](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/coyote-4602-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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There’s been some speculation that this coyote may have been kicked by a bison rather than injured in a fight with another coyote\u00a0as I originally suggested. There’s many possibilities as to the source of its injury but I’m still leaning toward coyote aggression, partially because of this deep gash in front of and below its\u00a0left eye on the other side of the snout from the more serious injury. The gash is looking much better now than it did three days ago.<\/p>\n
Surprisingly it appeared that the gash bothered the coyote more than the ghastly wound on the other side.\u00a0It attempted to lick the gash often in the few minutes I was nearby…<\/p>\n
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![\"coyote](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/coyote-4588-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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but I never saw it attempt to lick the wound on the other side of the snout.<\/p>\n
But this last image is the one I thought was most interesting from\u00a0yesterday.<\/p>\n
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![\"coyote](\"https:\/\/featheredphotography.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/02\/coyote-4611-ron-dudley.jpg\")
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Most of us have seen the teeth of our domestic dogs\u00a0but how many of us have ever had this good of a look at almost the entire dentition of a wild (yawning)\u00a0coyote?\u00a0I was lucky to get light inside the mouth because the sun was very low and\u00a0the direction of light was just about\u00a0right.\u00a0I find myself looking at this image and imagining all the\u00a0voles,\u00a0rabbits, insects, falcon leftovers and large mammal carcasses those teeth have dealt with.\u00a0I’ve seen coyotes eating things that\u00a0seemed pretty disgusting to me and the variety of what they consider to be acceptable food is seemingly endless.<\/p>\n
I’m especially impressed by the cutting molars (so very different in shape from ours)\u00a0and those long, sharp canines. Those fangs could do some serious damage in a coyote fight. I also notice that several of the upper\u00a0incisors are apparently\u00a0broken and the upper right canine seems to be discolored while the other three are not.<\/p>\n
This last photo is a very large crop but I\u00a0couldn’t resist posting it because it allows some intimacy with a coyote that doesn’t happen every day.<\/p>\n
Ron<\/p>\n
PS – Sorry about the lack of image techs (camera settings) but I just ran out of time this morning.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Two days ago I reported on a seriously injured coyote on Antelope Island and said I’d keep you updated if I encountered the animal again. Yesterday morning I did just that.<\/p>\n