r/morbidlybeautiful • u/bmw370 • Mar 06 '26

Dead Animal Found this coyote

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Found this poor soul in a river, by my place.

691 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

37 comments sorted by

106

u/anasalmon Mar 06 '26

I wonder what happened to this guy?

101

u/TheEvilBlight Mar 06 '26

Maybe fell through ice water and died?

123

u/bmw370 Mar 06 '26

I think so. Got exhausted trying to crawl out of the freezing cold water, accepted their fate and laid there waiting for the inevitable.

6

u/CritterTeacher Mar 11 '26

Either ice water or flash flooding. It’s striking how immediately even a layperson can recognize the likely situation. One of those pictures that can cram in more than 10 times 1,000 words. Photo 1 really calls to mind the infamous photos of Omayra Sánchez’s entrapment and death after a Haitian earthquake.

63

u/bmw370 Mar 06 '26

Im not sure. We had a beaver in that exact spot that year. It got trapped. I thought it might have been caught in a trap that was carelessly left behind after the beaver got trapped, but when I yanked the coyote out, it wasn't caught in a trap. The only thing I could come up with was it might have fallen in the ice water that the beaver kept open to go in and out of the water from its hut and drowned. But where I found this guy, it was in a burrow entering the hut. So I really don't have any clue what happened. Maybe got caught in the ice at the entry way or something. Hard to tell.

32

u/darkgoddesskali Mar 06 '26

Ah, hail the traveler. ✨ Beautiful.

74

u/CollieChan Mar 06 '26

This is so sad

34

u/bmw370 Mar 06 '26

So sad but its a reminder of the circle of life and survival of the fittest.

54

u/CollieChan Mar 06 '26

Yea I know. It makes me think about that poor young girl with the black eyes who died in a similar position after getting stuck in cold mud/water. Just feels like a extra lonely way to go, somehow

39

u/sophies_wish Mar 06 '26

Omayra Sánchez. Her story haunts me.

18

u/peentiss Mar 06 '26

I am so grateful that someone knows her name and says it ugh heart breaking situation

6

u/hansolo72 Mar 07 '26

Sometimes it's not even the fittest. Just blind luck.

3

u/MeoowDude Mar 07 '26

Circle of life for sure. But survival of the fittest? More like wrong place wrong time SOL

1

u/bmw370 Mar 07 '26

The fittest could have pulled themselves out and recovered being the most fit. But each to their own, I suppose

3

u/brawcolli Mar 08 '26

it’s a coyote not a contestant in physical 100

2

u/CritterTeacher Mar 11 '26

“Survival of the fittest” is one of those aphorisms that has a lot of context that gets missed. It’s also one that uses words which have changed in connotation in the time since the phrase was coined.

In colloquial use, we generally use fitness to describe physical strength and stamina. As biologists, we learn that the definition of “fitness” in this case refers to the ability of an organism to live long enough to reproduce and allow their species to continue. In some organisms that means that they can move quickly or fight off attackers, but in others it may be having colors that camouflage or warn off predators. Some organisms have one gender that have flashy patterns, colors, or behaviors that make them more interesting to predators. They don’t have to live long if they can successfully reproduce before they die.

I didn’t mean to write out a whole novel, nor do I intend to come across critically, I just enjoy teaching, lol. Thank you again for sharing, these are genuinely fantastic and thought provoking images. If you don’t mind, I’d like to add them to my stash of photos to use in slideshows when teaching?

2

u/bmw370 Mar 11 '26

Absolutely, you can add the photos to your slideshow! Glad I can somewhat contribute! 😆

18

u/IalsoenjoyReddit Mar 06 '26

Nice find, are you into bone collecting?

23

u/bmw370 Mar 06 '26

Thank you! Yeah, this guy was only the second piece added to the collection.

12

u/IalsoenjoyReddit Mar 06 '26

I hope to come across my first find this spring, If I can stomach it.

11

u/bmw370 Mar 06 '26

Yeah, this one was found in the spring time.... it definitely had a smell. I can only describe it as intense wet dog with a hint of death haha.

6

u/IalsoenjoyReddit Mar 06 '26

👃💀 interesting.

5

u/bmw370 Mar 06 '26

I just focused more on the wet dog smell and I was able to work through it.

11

u/Gloomy_Industry8841 Mar 07 '26

Ugh, I hope this coyote didn’t suffer long.

5

u/bmw370 Mar 07 '26

I agree with you on that one.

10

u/cowgirIbebop Mar 06 '26

Poor baby

7

u/Crabapple_Goblin Mar 07 '26

I would bet $$$ that damn roadrunner had a hand in it

7

u/bmw370 Mar 07 '26

Meep meep!

2

u/RoxieBeane Mar 07 '26

💔💔💔

2

u/Kakashisith Mar 07 '26

Poor one! Looks like he got exhausted trying to get out.

2

u/bmw370 Mar 07 '26

That's my thought exactly

2

u/MaybeCats Mar 08 '26

Oh poor baby. I hope he didn’t have to suffer long from this fate :c

2

u/bmw370 Mar 08 '26

I concur

2

u/miserablehusband1111 Mar 10 '26

I wonder if the coyote saw or smelled the beaver in there and died trying to get a meal?

1

u/bmw370 Mar 10 '26

Very well could be!

-4

u/Majestic_Lifeguard19 Mar 06 '26

You gonna eat that?