UF Desert Biodiversity

One of the most interesting encounters from my trip involved my night walk out in Anza-Borrego. We had been walking around for some while looking at plants and flipping rocks with UV lights to see what we could find. Out of nowhere, we started to hear multiple coyotes howling at once. It was a really haunting sound; if I were a rabbit I would be crying. I was very surprised to hear this since I had always assumed coyotes were solitary animals. With a little research I did learn that coyotes are both solitary and social. Apparently, about half of coyotes are solitary while the other half form bands. I imagine the habitat type and available food influences whether a coyote is solitary or not. I also learned that the howling heard was a call to initiate a hunt together. It was honestly a little otherworldly to hear an otherwise very silent and dark desert suddenly fill up with the howling of a band of coyotes, especially knowing what their little song was about.