South Dakota State Animal: Coyote

State Senator Alfred Roesler championed the coyote designation with eloquent floor remarks that resonated with legislators representing rural communities familiar with prairie hardships. Roesler told his colleagues in 1949 that the coyote has managed to survive in the face of civilization encroaching upon its territory, adding that the animal's spirit to survive resembles South Dakotans who endured adverse conditions including devastating blizzards, grasshopper plagues, dust bowl droughts, and economic hardship during the Great Depression. This connection between human resilience and coyote adaptability convinced legislators that no other animal better represented the state's character.

Public perception of coyotes shifted dramatically during the late 1940s partly due to Tootsie, a female coyote pup found orphaned in the Black Hills by Deadwood resident Ollie Wiswell in 1947. Wiswell ignored the state bounty on coyote pups and rescued the helpless animal, giving her to Fred and Esther Borsch who owned the Spot Liquor store in Deadwood. Fred Borsch taught Tootsie to howl along to his singing, and the duo became celebrities, cutting a record called 'South Dakota Tootsie' and appearing in parades throughout the state. Tootsie toured ten states including a White House visit where President Eisenhower and Vice President Nixon reportedly met the friendly coyote. On August 6, 1949, five months after the official designation, Governor Mickelson declared Tootsie South Dakota's Official Animal at the Days of '76 celebration in Deadwood, cementing her place in state history.

Legislators debated other animals during floor discussions before settling on the coyote. The bull received serious consideration as a symbol of South Dakota's ranching heritage, and decades later, some citizens lobbied to replace the coyote with the American bison, which many viewed as more representative of Great Plains heritage and less controversial than a predator with bounties on its head. A 2012 legislative attempt to change the state animal from coyote to bison failed, and the coyote retained its position. The decision to honor a predator rather than livestock or game animals demonstrated South Dakota's appreciation for wild resilience over domesticated utility.

Members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition documented coyotes in what became South Dakota on September 18, 1804, near the White River. William Clark killed a specimen he described as a 'Prairie Wolf, about the Size of a Gray fox, bushy tail, head and ears like a Wolf, Some fur, Burrows in the ground and barks like a Small Dog.' Clark noted that animals previously identified as foxes were actually these prairie wolves, providing the first scientific documentation of coyotes in the region. The expedition's journals reveal that coyotes already inhabited the Missouri River corridor when explorers first traveled through Dakota Territory, establishing the species as an original resident rather than recent arrival.

South Dakota's decision to honor the coyote as state animal occurred despite decades of state-sponsored bounty programs that paid hunters for dead coyotes. South Dakota offered five dollars for adult coyotes and two dollars for pups through state-run bounty programs designed to protect livestock from predation. Even after the 1949 designation, many counties continued bounty payments during certain seasons, creating the paradox of a state simultaneously honoring and hunting its official animal. This contradiction reflects practical ranching concerns balanced against recognition of the coyote's ecological role and symbolic resonance. The coyote's survival despite intense hunting pressure demonstrated precisely the resilience South Dakotans admired.

South Dakota earned informal designation as 'The Coyote State' long before official state animal recognition. The nickname originated in the fall of 1863 when a horse owned by members of Company A, Dakota Cavalry, defeated a horse owned by a major in the 6th Iowa Cavalry in a race at Fort Randall. Witnesses said the Dakota horse ran like a coyote, and the name immediately transferred from the horse to the entire Dakota Cavalry company. Soldiers proudly adopted the coyote moniker, and the name gradually extended to South Dakota residents more broadly. Although 'The Sunshine State' served as official nickname from 1909 to 1992 (replaced by 'The Mount Rushmore State'), many residents and publications continued using 'Coyote State' as an informal alternative.

The coyote became University of South Dakota's mascot decades before the state animal designation. When USD published its first yearbook in 1902, editors had already dubbed athletic teams 'the Coyotes,' making it one of the earliest uses of the coyote as an institutional symbol. A bronze statue of a coyote stands on the USD campus in Vermillion, and the mascot Charlie Coyote appears at athletic events and community gatherings. Governor George T. Mickelson, who signed the 1949 state animal legislation, had served as USD student body president, creating a direct personal connection between the university mascot and the state symbol. The university's long association with coyote symbolism predating official recognition demonstrates the animal's grassroots appeal among South Dakotans.

The South Dakota Army National Guard approved a coyote standing on a wreath for its official crest in 1924, twenty-five years before the state animal designation. The Guard's training exercises carry the name 'Golden Coyote,' while the South Dakota Air National Guard adopted the nickname 'Lobos,' Spanish for wolf. These military symbols acknowledge the coyote's qualities of alertness, strategic thinking, and ability to operate effectively in challenging environments—attributes valued in military contexts. The prevalence of coyote imagery across state institutions, universities, and military units before and after the 1949 designation reveals the animal's deep cultural resonance as a South Dakota identity marker.

Coyotes provide valuable ecosystem services in South Dakota's agricultural landscapes by controlling rodent populations that damage crops and compete with livestock for forage. A single coyote consumes hundreds of mice, voles, ground squirrels, and prairie dogs annually, providing natural pest control worth economic value to farmers. Coyotes also scavenge livestock and big game carcasses, accelerating decomposition and nutrient cycling while reducing disease transmission risks from rotting remains. This ecological contribution balances livestock predation concerns that drive hunting programs. Scientists recognize coyotes as keystone predators that influence prey populations, vegetation patterns, and ecosystem function across Great Plains habitats.

Coyotes demonstrate remarkable ability to thrive in human-modified environments, inhabiting agricultural fields, suburban parks, and even small-town edges throughout South Dakota. This adaptability distinguishes coyotes from larger predators like wolves and mountain lions that require wilderness conditions. Coyotes adjust their diet to available food sources, consuming rodents, rabbits, fruit, insects, and human-related food sources when natural prey becomes scarce. They modify activity patterns to avoid human contact, becoming more nocturnal in areas with high human presence while remaining active during daylight in protected areas like national parks. This behavioral flexibility explains why coyote populations increased throughout the twentieth century even as human development expanded across South Dakota prairies.

The coyote designation embodies South Dakota's state motto 'Under God the People Rule,' adopted in 1885 and featured prominently on the Great Seal. The motto emphasizes popular sovereignty and self-governance, values requiring the same persistence and adaptability that coyotes demonstrate in changing environments. State Senator Roesler explicitly connected these themes in 1949 when he told legislators that the coyote's survival spirit mirrors South Dakotans who endured adverse conditions. The motto's religious reference 'Under God' paired with the coyote's sacred significance in Native American traditions creates additional symbolic resonance—both acknowledge powers beyond human control that shape existence on the Great Plains.

The coyote and ring-necked pheasant share complex predator-prey relationships in South Dakota's agricultural landscapes. Pheasants, designated state bird in 1943, were introduced from Asia in 1908 and thrived in South Dakota's mix of cropland and grassland. Coyotes prey on pheasant nests, eggs, and occasionally adult birds, creating tension between the state's two most prominent wildlife symbols. This ecological relationship mirrors broader conservation debates balancing predator control with ecosystem health. The fact that South Dakota designated both predator and prey species as official symbols demonstrates recognition that complete ecosystems include multiple trophic levels rather than only species directly beneficial to humans.

The American pasque flower, designated state floral emblem in 1903 with the motto 'I Lead,' creates thematic connections to the coyote through shared prairie ecology and symbolic meaning. The pasque flower blooms first among South Dakota wildflowers, emerging through late snow to announce spring's arrival, demonstrating the resilience required to survive prairie conditions. The flower's motto 'I Lead' parallels the coyote's role as a resilient survivor that persists where other large predators disappeared. Both symbols grow from South Dakota's prairie soils—the pasque flower literally rooted in grassland hillsides, the coyote ecologically dependent on prairie prey populations and denning habitat in prairie ravines.

The Black Hills spruce, designated state tree in 1947, represents the unique Black Hills ecosystem that supports some of South Dakota's densest coyote populations. This variety of white spruce grows naturally only in the Black Hills of South Dakota and a small portion of northeast Wyoming, making it a regional endemic like the coyote's strong association with Great Plains and western landscapes. French explorers first documented Black Hills spruce in 1743, the same century that scientific understanding of coyotes began developing. The spruce provides cover for prey species including rabbits and ground squirrels that form important coyote food sources, creating ecological connections between South Dakota's state tree and state animal.