Peteje--There should not be a serious problem with pup survival. The data we had from radio collared coyotes in the late '70s indicated that all the coyote families we worked with for 3 consecutive years had 3 or more adults in each family. There could, however, be a problem with pup survival if the pups are very young and the adult female dies and no other female in the family is in lactating condition. We never saw this, however, but that could cause some problems with pup survival. We did, however, have 1 family that lost the entire litter to an unknown mortality agent. All the adults were still alive, and the territory did not change at all. However, when an adult died there were significant changes in territory shape; not in size. Territory size is closely related to population density.
Varmintmaster--In the coyote families we had radio-collars on all adults in the family performed all the functions--hunting, territory maintainence, attentiveness to pups, etc.; kind of like the extended families in many countries or in this country 100 years ago. Very strong social bonds between adults within a family. To the extent of husband/wife type? Maybe not to that level, but strong relationships nonetheless.
If people paid as close attention to their kids as coyotes/red fox do to their pups, there would be absolutely no drug problems and no school shootings, guaranteed!
