It’s a rule of nature: When animals give birth, their babies are almost always cute.
It’s certainly true for coyotes. And that helps explain why my social media posts showing coyote pups in the North Side’s Graceland Cemetery and Arboretum went viral, racking up 19,000 likes on BlueSky and more than 2 million views on Instagram — way more than I expected when I posted the pictures June 12. Let’s face it: Coyote pups are pretty darn adorable. Especially when they howl along with the siren of an emergency vehicle, a moment I happened to catch on video.
I’ve been photographing Chicago coyotes since 2018, when I spotted one sneaking around near sculptor Lorado Taft’s Eternal Silence, a fearsome Grim Reaper–like statue in Graceland. Since then, I’ve seen many coyotes at Graceland and in other graveyards and parks around the city, engaged in a variety of activities: lying lazily in the grass, yawning with their mouths stretched wide, yipping and howling, pacing back and forth over a bridge, rolling around in snow, walking over ice-covered ponds, chasing squirrels, and swallowing a whole squirrel (with fur and bones and everything else going down the hatch). But I’ve never seen a coyote act aggressively toward people. They usually try to avoid us.
In March, Radiolab podcast cohost Lulu Miller asked me to help her see some Chicago coyotes, and I knew just where to go: Graceland, where I’d counted seven coyotes a few months earlier. But these critters are awfully good at hiding. We walked around for an hour and half without any luck. Just when we were just about to give up, a gravedigger got our attention and helpfully pointed out a furry canid prowling nearby. It was soon joined by two more. After playing around a bit, they went on their way, weaving between the tombstones.
Miller was delighted to catch a glimpse of these wild creatures in the city, a moment she included in “The Howler: The Dog Who Joined a Coyote Pack,” a recent episode of Terrestrials, the fun Radiolab spinoff series for kids.
Coyotes mate in the first few months of the year, so I wasn’t too surprised when I saw signs posted June 1 at Graceland, mentioning the recent birth of coyote pups. But the message was rather alarming: “Due to EXTREMELY AGGRESSIVE COYOTE BEHAVIOR, dogs are TEMPORARILY NOT PERMITTED on Graceland Cemetery grounds. Coyotes are currently PROTECTING NEWBORN PUPS in nearby dens. They are highly territorial at this time and have exhibited AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR toward dogs brought in by visitors.”
On June 10, Block Club Chicago reported about Graceland’s temporary ban on dogs, and the story included Colin Boyle’s photos of those pups. I went looking for them the next morning. By that time, Graceland had taken down the signs about the dog ban and the aggressive coyote parents. New placards were posted, offering Project Coyote’s tips about how to keep dogs safe from coyotes, such as: “Never let your dog chase or play with a coyote. … Avoid walking small dogs at dawn.”
Over the next two mornings, I witnessed pups scampering around, going in and out of holes in the ground, with no adult coyotes in sight. I counted six or seven pups, though it was hard to keep them all straight. Another photographer said there were eight, noting that they appear to be 5 or 6 weeks old. Using a 600 mm lens, I took photos and videos from more than 100 feet away. I hoped that was far enough to avoid disturbing the little ones.
I knew my social media posts would get attention, but I had no idea just how much. People have posted more than 1,000 comments on the Instagram post, turning it into a freewheeling forum on coyotes. Here is just a small sample:
@conniecandoit: When I die, I want them outside my grave
@ride_on_enjoy: Other items prohibited at this time: anvils, rockets, dynamite, roadrunners, deliveries from Acme, Inc.
@aglgm04: They are so cute! How hard is it to resist scooping them up and snuggling with them 🥰
@wyldwulf13: Ppl on here talking about petting them. Joke or not, leave them be. Keep a safe distance and appreciate them from afar. Don’t be the reason they pay the ultimate price!! The cemetery has water and plenty of plants/wildlife for them. No food. Feeding them can create a dangerous situation. They aren’t pets. They can’t be domesticated. Ppl with dogs should learn to keep them on a leash at the cemetery. It’s a cemetery, NOT a park. Let’s all just coexist ✌️
@basedfrix: Omg @ clueless cityfolk. Coyotes are a nuisance animal, frequently kill pets and farm animals, and need to be eradicated, regardless of how cute you find their pups.
@sue.dipasquale: We are the ones invading their territory. We build and build and build. If you clear cut land the wildlife has to move somewhere. Leaving these coyotes alone for a few weeks isn’t a big deal. Walk your dogs somewhere else.
@megan_glori_: They’ve been living in Graceland Cemetery for years. I live in the neighborhood and everyone respects them. They dug a hole under the wall surrounding the cemetery and sometimes come out into the neighborhood. There’s a dog park next to the cemetery so we see them sometimes. They pretty much ignore the dogs and people and no one bothers them. Most people seem to love them. My dog is very interested in them and has howled along with them!
@rachelehman: It’d be great if folks DIDNT post shit like this [Instagram post]. You’re endangering those pups. Reply from @beckgrajeda: if you look at the comments, most people are expressing their concern for the pups. And it spreads awareness! AND it allows people to appreciate the animals from afar.
@resaswhimsy: You may not see the adults, but they are certainly nearby. Coyotes feed primarily on small rodents and other small prey. Respect their territory and avoid them when you see them. Human-coyote interactions are extremely rare and usually caused by humans approaching them or carelessly exposing small animals in their habitat. These are very intelligent, social animals. They are our brothers. Treat them respect and they will help control rodent populations living near humans.
I’ve gone back to Graceland a few times over the past week. The pups make occasional appearances, but they aren’t easy to spot as they hide in several dens. I haven’t seen any crowds of paparazzi, but there are usually a few people walking the roadways with cameras or just gazing around the graveyard, hoping to see a wild puppy.
On Thursday morning, I saw an adult male coyote emerging from a space hidden under a tree. Papa yote, I presume? I knew it was male because it had red ID tags in its ears, plus a collar with a radio antenna. The Urban Coyote Research Project, which is observing and studying Cook County’s estimated 2,000 coyotes, tracks many of the animals, using red ear tags to identify males and yellow ear tags for females. I’m pretty sure this one was an older male coyote I’ve been seeing at Graceland for the past several years.
Three pups came out of hiding and followed this guy up a small hill, where he hopped on top of a large tomb and surveyed the landscape for a minute. After glancing back at the pups, he trotted out into the cemetery, leaving them behind. I’m guessing he went looking for food. The pups dawdled for a few minutes, eyeing me, and then disappeared back under the tree.
The odds are that some of these pups won’t survive for long. “Our research indicates that coyotes of all ages in the Chicago area generally have roughly a 60 percent chance of surviving each year, even juveniles in their first year,” wildlife ecology professor Stanley D. Gehrt reports in the 2024 book Coyotes Among Us: Secrets of the City’s Top Predator (written with journalist Kerry Luft). “Still, the survival rates of juvenile coyotes in Cook County are approximately five times higher than the 13 percent survival rate reported for rural juvenile coyotes.”
In rural areas, coyotes are hunted and trapped. In Chicago, the leading cause of death is getting hit by automobiles: Vehicles were responsible for 41 percent of the coyote deaths studied by the Urban Coyote Research Project, where Gehrt is the principal investigator. Given how sparse and slow-moving the traffic is inside cemeteries like the 121-acre Graceland, these are pretty good places to avoid becoming road kill.
It takes nine months for pups to reach adult size. They usually stay with their family pack for a while, eventually venturing off once they become sexually active. “Many leave during their first fall and winter, and others leave a few months later during their first mating season, in February or March,” Gehrt writes.
Gehrt argues that humans and coyotes must learn how to peacefully coexist: “Seeing them should not be cause of alarm but rather a reminder that one of nature’s most tenacious survivors will be living with us and we with them, for some time to come. Coyotes are here to stay.”