Coyotes are predators, and effective ones. They hunt and kill a wide range of animals, from mice and rabbits to deer fawns and domestic livestock. But calling them simply “predators” undersells what makes coyotes ecologically unusual: depending on the environment, they can function as the top predator in an ecosystem or as a mid-level one, and they supplement their hunting with fruit, insects, and garbage when the opportunity arises.
Where Coyotes Sit in the Food Chain
Ecologists describe coyotes as a species that wavers between apex predator and mesopredator, meaning their rank shifts depending on who else shares the landscape. In areas without wolves or mountain lions, coyotes effectively become the dominant carnivore. Research on barrier islands along the eastern U.S. coast found that when coyotes colonized these ecosystems, they functioned as apex predators, suppressing red fox and feral cat populations through their sheer presence. The spatial patterns of foxes on those islands were driven almost entirely by where coyotes chose to hunt and rest.
In places where wolves are present, coyotes get pushed into a subordinate role. They avoid areas wolves frequent, shift their activity to different times of day, and rely more on smaller prey. Wolves don’t just compete with coyotes for food. They actively kill them. In wolf-free areas, coyote populations tend to be noticeably higher than in regions where the two species overlap.
What Coyotes Actually Eat
A continent-wide analysis of coyote diets found that small rodents appear in roughly 29% of their meals, making rodents the single most common food category. Rabbits and hares show up in about 23% of meals, and deer (mostly scavenged or taken as fawns) in around 22%. But here’s where coyotes break the typical predator mold: vegetation, including fruit and seeds, also appears in 23% of meals. Invertebrates like insects and beetles turn up in 14%, and birds in 9%.
Livestock and wild pigs each account for about 3% of the diet on average. Reptiles, other carnivores, and human-sourced food each hover around 2 to 3%. This dietary flexibility is a big part of why coyotes thrive in nearly every habitat across North America, from deserts to downtown Chicago.
How Coyotes Hunt
Coyotes typically hunt alone or in loose pairs rather than in organized packs. They live in family groups, but their hunting style is less coordinated than wolves. A single coyote stalking a rabbit or pouncing on a vole in a field is the most common scenario. When targeting something larger, like a deer fawn or an injured adult deer, two coyotes may work together to chase and exhaust the animal.
They also display a surprising willingness to cooperate across species lines. Coyotes have been observed hunting alongside badgers, with the coyote chasing ground squirrels above the surface while the badger digs them out from below. They’ve also been seen following the sound of crows gathering, using the birds as a signal that food is nearby. These aren’t instinctive pack behaviors so much as opportunistic problem-solving, which is a hallmark of coyote survival strategy.
Urban Coyotes Hunt Differently
In cities and suburbs, coyote diets shift dramatically. A National Park Service study in the Los Angeles area found that human food resources, including garbage, ornamental fruit from landscaping, and domestic cats, made up 60 to 75% of what urban coyotes ate. Cat remains appeared in 20% of urban coyote scat samples, compared to just 4% in suburban areas. Urban coyotes still hunt rabbits and rodents, but they lean heavily on whatever is most accessible.
During warmer months, dietary diversity spikes. Research in the Chicago metropolitan area found that coyotes ate a wider variety of foods during the pup-rearing season (roughly late spring through summer), taking advantage of fresh plant material, vulnerable young prey animals, and increased human trash in parks. This seasonal shift means coyotes are most actively foraging and hunting during the months when people are also most active outdoors.
Impact on Livestock
Coyote predation on livestock is real and economically significant, particularly for sheep and lamb producers. In Idaho in 2023, coyotes were the number one predator of both sheep and lambs, responsible for 72% of all predator-caused losses. That translated to roughly 5,500 animals killed, with a financial impact of $1.18 million. Lambs are especially vulnerable: coyotes accounted for 27% of all lamb deaths in the state that year, compared to 12.5% of adult sheep deaths.
These numbers reflect a single state, but the pattern holds across much of the western U.S., where coyotes are consistently the leading predator threat to sheep operations.
How Coyotes Shape Ecosystems
Coyote predation does more than reduce the numbers of the animals they eat. It restructures entire communities of smaller species. A study in western Texas that experimentally removed coyotes from certain areas found striking results within nine months. Rodent species diversity dropped. One competitive species, the Ord’s kangaroo rat, exploded in population and pushed out other rodent species until it dominated both grassland and shrubland habitats. With coyotes present, their predation had kept kangaroo rat numbers in check, which left enough resources for other rodent species to coexist.
Jackrabbit populations also responded sharply. Mortality rates of both adult and juvenile jackrabbits were strongly correlated with the ratio of coyotes to jackrabbits in the area, confirming that coyote predation directly limits jackrabbit density. When coyotes were removed, jackrabbit numbers climbed, and so did populations of mid-level predators like badgers, bobcats, and gray foxes, all of which had been suppressed by competition with coyotes.
This cascading effect is why ecologists describe coyotes as playing a keystone role in some ecosystems. Their predation doesn’t just affect the animals they kill. It shapes which species can coexist and in what numbers, influencing biodiversity from the ground up.