Revealing the secrets of coastal coyotes in Mexico

By Mammals Producer, Daniel Rasmussen

In our search for stories for the series, a fisherman’s tale landed on our desk... that in the remote and sparsely populated coastal desert of Baja Mexico, coyotes were making a living by using their tails as lures to catch crabs! It seemed farcical at first; why live in what must surely be one of the harshest environments on the continent, when as a wily coyote you can make an easier living elsewhere? But this story kept appearing as our team interviewed more people in the area.

What we did know is that mammals are, of course, capable of using tools, and mammals as a group have incredible intelligence and problem-solving ability. But even so, this seemed far-fetched.

As I was filming another sequence on the episode - sea lions and marlin also in Mexico - I used the days when the weather blew us off the water to explore the mangroves and dunes that fringed the Pacific coast. Sure enough, coyote tracks and evidence of feeding were persistent along the shore. With a little more investigation, we managed to see some and realized their arrival was timed with the tides.

Something interesting was happening here, although we weren’t sure what. So, we put boots on the ground; tentatively…!

Over the course of a year, various camera operators kindly spent time chasing the story and the coyotes, but without much success. Several theories surfaced (and disappeared) about the tail fishing, as we kept hearing the same story, but no evidence ever came to light despite hours of camera traps, underwater filming, and many kind volunteers roaming the landscape for us.

But we were hooked nonetheless… The simple lives of these animals were astounding enough. Surrounded by a landscape that is mostly barren of food and water, these animals seemingly place their ‘faith,’ or should I say hard-won knowledge and experience, in the oceans. That each day as high tide recedes, enough of something will be left for them to eat.

But it turned out it wasn’t just scraps they patrolled for… Magdalena Bay is one of the places gray whales congregate to mate, give birth, and socialize. These whales make one of the longest migrations of any animal on earth and do so to reach these protected waters. But some also lose their lives here, and of those few that do, they too wash up on the tide like everything else. These mammoth meals can sustain many coyotes for long periods of time.

A study of the population of coyotes on the coast illustrated just how rich the bounty from the sea can be, sustaining almost 14 times more than those that live inland. Testament to the incredible opportunity that water can provide to mammals.