The coyote (Canis latrans) is a species of canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. Coyote populations are abundant southwards through Mexico and into Central America. The species is versatile, able to adapt to and expand into environments modified by humans. The coyote is a largely carnivorous and highly flexible animal, living either in a family unit or in loosely knit packs of unrelated individuals.
Primarily carnivorous, its diet consists mainly of deer, rabbits, hares, rodents, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and invertebrates. In spite of this, coyotes sometimes mate with gray, eastern, or red wolves, producing "coywolf" hybrids. After the European colonization of the Americas, it was seen in Anglo-American culture as a cowardly and untrustworthy animal. Unlike wolves, attitudes towards the coyote remain largely negative.