© 2025 University of Missouri - KBIA
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Discover Nature: Coyotes Wean Pups

An adult coyote stands with its mouth open in a grassy field.
Coyotes wean pups and teach them to hunt and behave as adults this week in Missouri. Watch and listen for them, especially at dusk and dawn.

This week on Discover Nature, female coyotes wean their pups.

   

Keep an eye and an ear out, especially at dawn and dusk, for these canine scavengers. 

Coyotes are nocturnal but are also seen in daylight.  They live singly, in male-female pairs, or in family groups and use complex expressions and postures to communicate. 

They mate in early spring and birth litters of 5 to 7 pups in late April or May. 

By late June both parents begin teaching their young to hunt and behave as adults. 

Coyotes live in semi-open, brushy country, along timber edges, and in open farmlands. Occupying territories ranging from about 9 to 30 square miles. 

While coyotes may sometimes cause losses to livestock, they are often unjustly blamed for the work of free-running domesticated dogs. 

Coyotes mainly eat rabbits and mice and help control populations of rodent pests. They eat carrion as well as prey they kill themselves, and help remove old, injured, and diseased animals from the landscape. 

Learn more about coyotes in Missouri with the Missouri Department of Conservation’s online field guide.

Discover Nature is sponsored by the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Kyle Felling’s work at KBIA spans more than three decades. In 2025, he became KBIA and KMUC's Station Manager. He began volunteering at the station while he was a Political Science student at the University of Missouri. After being hired as a full-time announcer, he served as the long-time local host of NPR’s All Things Considered on KBIA, and was Music Director for a number of years. Starting in 2010, Kyle became KBIA’s Program Director, overseeing on-air programming and operations while training and supervising the station’s on-air staff. During that period, KBIA regularly ranked among the top stations in the Columbia market, and among the most listened to stations in the country. He was instrumental in the launch of KBIA’s sister station, Classical 90.5 FM in 2015, and helped to build it into a strong community resource for classical music. Kyle has also worked as an instructor in the MU School of Journalism, training the next generation of journalists and strategic communicators. In his spare time, he enjoys playing competitive pinball, reading comic books and Joan Didion, watching the Kansas City Chiefs, and listening to Bruce Springsteen and the legendary E Street Band.
Related Content