Guest Bio: Dan Flores is a writer and historian who specializes in cultural and environmental studies of the American West. His recent books Coyote America: A Natural and Supernatural History and American Serengeti: The Last Big Animals of the Great Plains are both available now.
Topics Discussed: Coyotes in Joe’s neighborhood; Joe saw a coyote take one of his chickens; how Dan got into coyotes; a coyote is a wolf; Georgia Coyote Challenge; coyote howls are connected to breeding; hunters are mad that coyotes are killing deer; the US tried to exterminate coyotes at one time; coyotes are spreading into South America; trying to kill coyotes is leading to more coyotes; gray wolves in North America; coywolf; coyotes have overtaken red wolves; gray wolves; wolves left North America and came back a different species; leaving wolves alone is better; how wolves spread; eliminating gray wolves; coyote packs scatter and spread when you try to kill them; you can’t do anything about coyotes; how we know the gray wolf left North America; gray wolves are unique; coyotes are omnivorous; coyotes will eat fruit off trees; how coyotes are different from gray wolves; how do we know canidae spread around the world; horses evolved and became zebras; what happened to horses in North America 8,000-10,000 years ago; wild horses; zebra stripes; what happened to woolly mammoths; wild horses with stripes; panthera; short-faced bear; ice ages, warming, and the wobble of the earth; Joe talks about Randall Carlson and asteroid impacts; we don’t know why some animals disappeared; pronghorn antelope; (1:00:00) hyenas lived in North America; cheetahs were in North America and came from mountain lions; more talk about wild horses; humans almost wiped out dozens of animal species in North America; Carolina parakeet; we knew very little about ecology in the past; we tried to kill coyotes without knowing anything about them; coyotes were considered to be prairie wolves; the term “coyote” comes from the Aztec language; Mark Twain wrote about coyotes and our pronunciation of the word comes from him; Native Americans were fascinated with coyotes and considered them a sacred creature; Joe talks again about coyotes and his chickens; coyotes kill rats and rabbits for us; we can’t control coyotes; trying to kill coyotes will result in more coyotes; coyotes see cats as competition; owls kill and eat cats; owl takes hawk from nest video; owls are major predators; Joe saw an owl drop a dead rabbit; coyote killing cat on a lawn in California video; coyotes can develop a taste for cats; cats kill billions of birds each year; two women approached Dan to participate in a documentary about coyotes; wolves moving into cities; feral dogs in the 1800s; coyotes arrived after the removal of feral dogs; American Serengeti and American Prairie Reserve (APR) talk; how animals will be reintroduced in the American Prairie Reserve; resistance from ranchers; brucellosis talk; the ranching community thinks bison are a threat; bison meat is better than beef; APR isn’t allowed to reintroduce bears; wolves are needed to control the elk population; humans are newcomers to North America; Dan’s “Bison Ecology and Bison Diplomacy” report; longhorn bison (latifrons); (2:00:00) more talk about the history of bison in the United States; Native Americans trading bison pelts for supplies; Native Americans abandoning dogs for horses; more talk about Native Americans; firearms; Native Americans wanted steel arrowheads, axes, etc.; why the bison population declined; buffalo jumps; Native Americans thought bison were like people; Bonfire Shelter; mice inherit memories; genetic memories; poison to kill wolves and coyotes.
My Thoughts: Dan rambles about animals and American history for over two hours. Don’t listen unless you’re fascinated with wolves and coyotes and the history of animals in North America.
Podcast Video: Below is a video of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast episode #942 available for streaming via YouTube.
Podcast Audio: Audio for this episode of The Joe Rogan Experience podcast is available through iTunes, Stitcher, or you can download the MP3 directly to add it to the audio player of your choice.