Jennifer Schneider – jschneider@lcc.lt

LCC International University
Kretingos 36, KLAIPEDA
KLAIPEDA M., LT-92307
Lithuania

Dustin H. Ranglack
USDA APHIS WS National Wildlife Research Center
Utah Field Station

Popular version of 2pABa2 – A Comparison of the Squeaking Vocalizations of North American Wild Canids
Presented at the 190th ASA Meeting
Read the abstract at https://eppro01.ativ.me/web/planner.php?id=ASASPRING2026

–The research described in this Acoustics Lay Language Paper may not have yet been peer reviewed–

The Question: Do Coyotes Squeak like Wolves Squeak?
We are all familiar with howls, but how many of us have heard a wolf or a coyote squeak? Squeaks are easy to miss for a number of reasons: one has to be in close proximity to hear them, animals behave differently when humans are around, and squeaks are easy to mistake for birdsong. Wild canids live in family groups and need to communicate during face-to-face interactions. Both gray (Canis lupus) and red wolves (Canis rufus) produce strings of short, quiet, high-frequency squeaks in a variety of friendly contexts. Yet, despite coyotes’ (Canis latrans) close relationship with wolves, this study is the first to systematically examine coyote squeaking vocalizations.

The Setup: Meeting the New Neighbors
To determine whether coyotes squeak we created a social situation to encourage interaction between bonded coyote pairs and their neighbors at the USDA Predator Research Station in Millville, Utah. Three pairs of coyotes were moved into adjacent enclosures and recorded using camera traps and continuous audio recordings. The observations reported here include the first 3.5 hours after release, as the animals explored their new enclosures and interacted through the fence with their neighbors.

The Comparison: How Similar are Coyote Squeaks to Wolf Squeaks?
Coyote squeaks shared many similarities with wolf squeaks:

• The number of squeaks per vocalization varied greatly (1 – >30).
• The frequency bandwidth within which coyotes squeaked (3.0-11.0 kHz) was broad, more similar to red wolves (2.7-9.5 kHz) than gray wolves (1.8-6.0 kHz).
• Squeaks of all three species display a variety of contours, with flat or bump-like shapes being among the most common.
• Coyote squeaks were shorter, but showed similar frequency ranges to those of gray wolves, and were longer with greater frequency ranges than those of red wolves.
• Squeaks occur in prosocial contexts such as greeting, friendly approach, play, and during howling sessions.

Like red wolves, coyotes sometimes produced a second, lower-frequency component (0.5-1.6 kHz), or wuh, simultaneously with their squeaks, a phenomena knowns as biphonation. Since we used multiple recorders, we discovered that the wuh did not travel as far as the squeak (Fig. 1). Therefore, the message received by eavesdroppers will be different than the message received by coyotes in the immediate area.

Figure 1. Spectogram of a squeak vocalization with biphonations recorded near the vocalizing coyote (top panel) and on the far side of the enclosure (lower panel). The high-frequency squeak was still audible on the far side of the enclosure while the low-frequency wuh was not. To listen click here.

Why it Matters
Coyotes and wolves, being predators, often viewed negatively by humans. However, these animals also mate for life, live in social groups, and even raise young together. Getting a more holistic understanding of the lives of these animals requires listening in on their intimate communication. Squeaking is ubiquitous across North American canid species, despite differences in social structure complexity. Identifying the importance of this vocalization is only the first step. While we can see that squeaking is affiliative in nature, we are still a long-way from unlocking the subtleties of meaning in individual utterances.