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Coyote is a mythological character common to many Native American cultures, based on the coyote (Canis latrans) animal. This character is usually male and is generally anthropomorphic although he may have some coyote-like physical features such as fur, pointed ears, yellow eyes, tail and claws. The myths and legends which include Coyote vary widely from culture to culture.

Contents 1 Coyote in mythology 1.1 The creator 1.2 The culture hero 2 By culture 2.1 California 2.2 Great Plains 2.3 Plateau 3 Homologues 4 Coyote in the modern world 4.1 Coyote in popular culture 5 External links 6 References

Coyote often plays the role of trickster, although in some stories he is a buffoon and the butt of jokes and in a few is outright evil. His personality strengths are humor and sometimes cleverness. His personality weaknesses are usually greed or desire, recklessness, impulsiveness and jealousy. Coyote is often the antagonist of his brother Wolf, who is wise and good natured but prone to giving in to Coyote's incessant demands. In Tongva Mythology, it is Coyote who is tricked. Coyote challenges "The River" to a race. Coyote is victorious, but collapses from fatigue. The river laughs at him and takes the name "Hahamongna," which is said to explain the noise made by the upper Arroyo Seco which sounds similar to laughing.

Modern coyote myth rarely refers to the sexualized coyote stories of some of the Northwest tribes. Whereas white settlers may have known, but been too timid to recirculate these stories, there is evidence that in tellings by native writers, publications have been sanitized. These myths seem to have been edited out of history by the more sexually conservative European-Americans, and are now difficult to find. There is reference to the sexual s myths of the coyotes though in original sources from the era, where an Indian Agency administrator might reference the myths and then primly refuse to tell the tales. See, Recollections from the Colville Indian Agency 1886-1889 by Major Richard D. Gwydir, The Arthur H. Clark Co., Spokane, Washington, 2001; and Coyote Stories by Mourning Dove. A collection of sexual coyote myths from various tribes may be found at this website.

Coyote figures prominently in several creation myths. In one myth, Coyote creates the first people by kicking a ball of mud (sometimes a bit of feces) until it formed into the first man. In another myth Coyote is able to successfully impregnate an evil woman who has killed off all the other men in the world during the sexual act.

Coyote is also commonly a character in "just-so stories", in which he unsuccessfully tries to hunt prey or compete with other predators. In the process phenomena such as why rabbits have long ears are explained.

Coyote also plays the role of a hero, or even a culture hero, in some stories. In these stories, he actually proves to be helpful (and sometimes genuinely heroic).

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Coyote is a figure in the following cultural areas, as commonly defined by ethnographers:

Coyote is featured in the culture of the following groups who live in the area covered by the state of California: the Karuk [1], the Tongva of Southern California, the Ohlone mythology of Northern California, the Miwok mythology of Northern California, and the Pomo mythology of Northern California

Coyote is seen in the cultural heretige of these people of the Great Plains area: the Crow mythology (Crow Nation), the Ho-Chunk mythology (Ho-Chunk, Winnebago), and the Menominee.

Myths and stories of Coyote are also found in the cultures of the Plateau area: the Chinookan (including the Wishram people and the Multnomah) [2], the Flathead [3], the Nez Perce [4], the Nlaka'pamux, the Secwepemc, the St'at'imc, the Tsilhqot'in, and the Yakama [5]

coyotes live 10 to 12 years.

Coyote has been compared to both the Scandinavian Loki, and also Prometheus, who shared with Coyote the trick of having stolen fire from the gods as a gift for mankind. Similarities can also be drawn with another trickster, the Polynesian demigod Māui, who also stole fire for mankind and introduced death to the world.

Claude Lévi-Strauss, French anthropologist proposed a structuralist theory that suggests the Coyote obtained mythic status because he was a mediator animal between life and death.^[1]

Coyote figures prominently in current efforts to educate young people about Western Native American languages and cultures. For example, the Secwepemc people of the Kamloops Indian Band in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada, have designated their recently opened native elementary school the Sk'elep (Coyote) School of Excellence, while educational websites such as one co-sponsored by the Neskonlith Indian Band of Chase, British Columbia prominently feature stories about Sk'elep (see "Stseptekwle" [pronounced S-chep-tek-wool-eh]).

Peter Blue Cloud (Aroniawenrate) is a member of the Turtle clan of the Mohawk Nation. His books include two collections of contemporary Coyote tales, Elderberry Flute Song and The Other Side of Nowhere, which place Coyote in a number of different guises -- showing Coyote to be funny, wise, sad, and sexual. William Bright's collection, A Coyote Reader, also shows the continuing importance of Coyote in today's world.

Main article: Coyotes in popular culture

The coyote is a popular figure in folklore and popular culture. Reference may invoke either the animal or the mythological figure. Traits commonly described in pop culture appearances include inventiveness, mischievousness, and evasiveness. Coyote is a major character in Michael Chabon's 2004 novel Summerland, in Christopher Moore's Coyote Blue, and in several short stories by Thomas King. A version of Coyote as an evil trixter appears in Sheila Watson's modernist novel The Double Hook (1959).

Wile E. Coyote could be considered an instance of the buffoon version of the Coyote myth.

Coyote's mythological role as a trickster is the basis for American sex workers' modern adoption of the coyote in service to advocacy in their industry – "COYOTE" ("Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics") is the name of a group established in 1973 in San Francisco to advocate for sex workers in political issues and to help prostitutes who want to leave the business.

• Native American Trickster Tales
• In Cahoots with Coyote
• Coyote, He/She Was Going There: Sex and Gender in Native American Trickster Stories
• Trickster: Shaman of the Liminal

1. ^ Structural Anthropology, p. 224

• Lévi-Strauss, Claude. Structural Anthropology. Trans. Claire Jacobson. New York: Basic Books, 1963.