Coyote

d coyote
Difficulty	2
Attacks	Bite 1d4 physical

d coyote
Difficulty	2
Attacks	Bite 1d4 physical
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	NetHack 5.0.0 - include/monsters.h, line 213

A coyote, d, is a type of monster that appears in NetHack. The coyote is a small and carnivorous canine animal that can be seen via infravision, and is among the earliest monsters that a hero can encounter.

A coyote has a single bite attack.

Eating coyotes is considered cannibalism for a hero that has lycanthropy from a werejackal.

Generation

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

Werejackals that call for help and summon hostile monsters have a ²⁄₂₁ chance of generating a coyote per summoned monster—a hero that contracts lycanthropy from a werejackal can spend 10 power to summon tame coyotes with the same odds by using the #monster extended command.

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

List of coyote names

Each coyote that is generated is given one of the following humorous species names, which is visible with the far look or what is commands:

• 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 (their actual species name)

A cancelled coyote will always use the species name, due to it being the last on the list.

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 heroes should not be too stingy with whatever options they have that can ensure survival.

As with jackals, groups of coyotes can be positioned so the hero can fight them off one at a time in melee, 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 NetHack debut in NetHack 3.3.0.

The ability of werejackals to summon allied coyotes is introduced in NetHack 3.6.1 via commit 1f4574b6, which also makes it cannibalism to eat those animals while the hero has lycanthropy from a werejackal.

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. 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 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.

Coyotes are highly flexible in social organization, living either in a family unit or in loosely knit packs of unrelated individuals. They are primarily carnivorous and feed on deer, rabbits, hares, rodents, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and invertebrates, though it may also eat fruits and vegetables on occasion. A coyote's fur is predominantly light gray-and-red or yellow interspersed with black and white, though it varies somewhat with geography. The coyote has a characteristic vocalization in the howling sounds made by solitary individuals. The greatest threats to coyotes are humans, cougars and gray wolves.

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 human. 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, an image that still persists even as the similar public image of the wolf has been largely improved.

The humorous species names and the encyclopedia entry are derived from the Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner series of Looney Tunes shorts. These feature Wile E. Coyote as a stubborn predator of the high-speed Road Runner, whose only displayed motive in turn is generally to avoid capture while running through the desert—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 in order to catch and presumably eat the Road Runner, and he is often portrayed as an "insufferable genius", especially in later cartoons such as those that pair him with Bugs Bunny. Wile E.'s displays of zealotry and hubris in pursuit of his goals are recurring themes throughout most episodes: he employs increasingly impractical methods that have low odds of capturing his prey intact (if at all), and when he does not either "outwit" himself or end up bested by the road runner, he experiences bizarre and inexplicable failures from both the ACME tools as well as devices of his own design.

Variants

Some NetHack variants may not include the ability to summon allied coyotes for werejackals or count eating them as cannibalism for heroes given lycanthropy by a werejackal.

SLASH'EM

In SLASH'EM, coyotes cannot be summoned by werejackals. Eating coyotes is not considered cannibalism for a hero with lycanthropy from a werejackal.

Coyotes appear among the random d that are part of the second quest monster class for Yeomen and make up ⁶⁄₁₇₅ of the monsters randomly generated on the Yeoman quest.

GruntHack

In GruntHack, coyotes cannot be summoned by werejackals. Eating coyotes is not considered cannibalism for a hero with lycanthropy from a werejackal.

UnNetHack

In UnNetHack, coyotes can be summoned by werejackals as in NetHack—eating them also counts as cannibalism for a hero that has lycanthropy from a werejackal.

dNetHack

In dNetHack, notdNetHack and notnotdNetHack, coyotes cannot be summoned by werejackals. Eating coyotes is not considered cannibalism for a hero with lycanthropy from a werejackal.

Coyotes can be warded by a Toustefna stave that is carved into a wooden weapon and placed on the hero's square, and that weapon will also warn of coyotes and other canines while wielded.

Coyotes appear among the d that make up ¹⁄₁₀ of monsters randomly generated in the Windowless Tower branch.

EvilHack

In EvilHack, eating coyotes is considered cannibalism for a hero with lycanthropy from a werejackal.

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

SlashTHEM

In SlashTHEM, in addition to SLASH'EM details, coyotes appear among the random d that are part of the first quest monster class for Ninjas and make up ²⁴⁄₁₇₅ of the monsters randomly generated on the Ninja quest.

A coyote is randomly placed in the village area of the Town branch during level creation.

Hack'EM

In Hack'EM, coyotes cannot be summoned by werejackals, but eating coyotes is considered cannibalism for a hero with lycanthropy from a werejackal.

Coyotes appear among the random d that are part of the second quest monster class for Yeomen and make up ⁶⁄₁₇₅ of the monsters randomly generated on the Yeoman quest, as they do in SLASH'EM. Similarly, coyotes also appear among the random d that are part of the first quest monster class for Infidels and make up ²⁴⁄₁₇₅ of the monsters randomly generated on the Infidel quest, as in EvilHack.

A coyote is randomly placed in the village area of the Town branch during level creation, as in SlashTHEM.

Encyclopedia entry

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