Coyote

d coyote
Difficulty	2
Attacks	1d4

d coyote
Difficulty	2
Attacks	1d4
Base level	1
Base experience	8
Speed	12
Base AC	7
Base MR	0
Alignment	0 (neutral)
Frequency (by normal means)	1 (Very rare)
Genocidable	Yes
Weight	300
Nutritional value	250
Size	Small
Resistances	None
Resistances conveyed	None
A coyote: has no hands. is an animal. is carnivorous. is normally generated hostile. can be seen through infravision. normally appears in small groups.
Reference	monst.c#line212

A coyote, d, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. It is a small, carnivorous canine animal that is slightly stronger than a jackal, can be seen via infravision, and is among the earliest monsters a character will encounter.

A coyote has a single bite attack.

Generation

Randomly generated coyotes are always created hostile, and may appear in small groups.

Werejackals can summon hostile coyotes by calling for help, with a ²⁄₂₁ chance of generating a hostile coyote on each adjacent square, and a character that gets lycanthropy from a werejackal can do the same using the #monster extended command by expending 10 power.

Coyotes appear among the random d that are part of the first quest monster class for Tourists and make up ²⁴⁄₁₇₅ of the monsters randomly generated on the Samurai quest.

List of coyote names

Each coyote is given one of the following humorous species names, which is visible with the far look or what is commands. A cancelled coyote will always use the last name on the list, Canis latrans (which is their actual species name).

• Carnivorous Vulgaris
• Road-Runnerus Digestus
• Eatibus Anythingus
• Famishus-Famishus
• Eatibus Almost Anythingus
• Eatius Birdius
• Famishius Fantasticus
• Eternalii Famishiis
• Famishus Vulgarus
• Famishius Vulgaris Ingeniusi
• Eatius-Slobbius
• Hardheadipus Oedipus
• Carnivorous Slobbius
• Hard-Headipus Ravenus
• Evereadii Eatibus
• Apetitius Giganticus
• Hungrii Flea-Bagius
• Overconfidentii Vulgaris
• Caninus Nervous Rex
• Grotesques Appetitus
• Nemesis Riduclii
• Canis latrans

Strategy

Coyotes are not much stronger than jackals, but are just as perilous for the starting characters of beginner players, due to generating in groups and moving at the same base speed as those characters like jackals do. The coyote is still fairly easy to defeat, especially for roles that start with sufficient melee proficiency, and weaker characters should not be too stingy with whatever options they have to ensure survival. As with jackals, groups of coyotes can be positioned so that a character can melee them without being surrounded, or else line them up to hit with a wand or spell. Additionally, coyote corpses make decent early meals, especially for roles that lack starting food or are not observing vegetarian conduct.

History

The coyote first appears in NetHack-- 3.1.3 and SLASH 6, and makes its vanilla debut in NetHack 3.3.0.

Origin

The coyote (Canis latrans) is a species of canine native to North America that is smaller than its close relative, the wolf, and slightly smaller than the closely related eastern wolf and red wolf. Coyotes are versatile, able to adapt to and expand into environments modified by humans, and urban coyotes are common in many cities; the coyote was sighted in eastern Panama (across the Panama Canal from their home range) for the first time in 2013. The coyote has 19 recognized subspecies, and fills much of the same ecological niche as the golden jackal does in Eurasia, though it is larger and more predatory - it was once referred to as the American jackal by a behavioral ecologist. Other historical names for the species include the prairie wolf and the brush wolf.

Coyote fur is predominantly colored light gray-and-red or fulvous interspersed with black and white, though it varies somewhat with geography. Coyotes are highly flexible in social organization, living either in a family unit or in loosely knit packs of unrelated individuals. Primarily carnivorous, the coyote diet consists mainly of deer, rabbits, hares, rodents, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and invertebrates, though it may also eat fruits and vegetables on occasion. Its characteristic vocalization is a howl made by solitary individuals. The greatest threat to coyotes are humans, cougars and gray wolves, though coyotes are known to sometimes mate with gray, eastern, or red wolves, producing "coywolf" hybrids: In the northeastern regions of North America, the eastern coyote (a larger subspecies, though still smaller than wolves) is the result of various historical and recent matings with various types of wolves; genetic studies also show that most North American wolves contain some level of coyote DNA.

The coyote is a prominent character in Native American folklore, mainly in Aridoamerica, where it is usually depicted as a trickster that alternately assumes the form of an actual coyote or a man. As with other trickster figures such as the jackal and fox, the coyote uses deception and humor to rebel against social conventions, and was especially respected in Mesoamerican cosmology as a symbol of military might. After the European colonization of the Americas, it was seen in Anglo-American culture as a cowardly and untrustworthy animal - unlike wolves, which have seen their public image improve, attitudes towards the coyote remain largely negative.

The humorous species names and the encyclopedia entry are derived from the Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner series of Looney Tunes, with the titular coyote presented as a frequent and stubborn predator of the high-speed Road Runner, whose only motive in turn is generally to avoid being captured - the pair are introduced in each episode with often-humorous species names. Wile E. is known primarily for his use of tools bought from the in-universe ACME Corporation to catch and presumably eat the Road Runner: he is often portrayed as an "insufferable genius" archetype of antagonist, especially in later cartoons featuring Bugs Bunny. Wile E.'s displays of zealotry and hubris in pursuit of his goals are recurring themes of the cartoons: he employs outside methods with increasingly impractical odds of capturing the bird intact (if at all), frequently meets with failure in inexplicable and physics-defying manners, and either outwits himself in the process or is bested by his prey, even as they appear simple-minded or unassuming.

Encyclopedia entry

This carnivore is known for its voracious appetite and inflated view of its own intelligence.