Yellowstone’s Beloved Coyote Trickster Limpy Is Starting To Show His Age

One of Yellowstone National Park’s favorite critters, Limpy the Coyote, might be slowing with age, but he hasn’t stopped his game of trying to grift tourists out of snacks.

Limpy, also called Tripod or Chester, likes to hang out near roadsides. He has an authentic limp from an old injury. But he’s mastered greatly exaggerating his injury and making sad faces, in hopes that unsuspecting tourists feed him.

To be clear, feeding wildlife in Yellowstone is strictly forbidden.

And wildlife photographers who follow Limpy say he’s more than capable of getting food the natural way, such as hunting small rodents or scavenging big game carcasses.

Aging Trickster

Limpy’s estimated to be roughly 8 to 9 years old. That’s quite an advanced age for a coyote, many of his species don’t make it past age 5 or so.

Observers say Limpy is starting to show his age. However, he could still have several years left in him.

Coyote expert Robert Crabtree previously told Cowboy State Daily that, under the right circumstances, coyotes in the wild can live about as long as domestic dogs.

Crabtree, the founder, chief scientist and president of the Yellowstone Ecological Research Center, noted that once while doing research, he captured a coyote that was “16.5 years old.”

Might Have Beaten Mange

Wildlife photographer Isabella Smedley has observed the crafty coyote up to all sorts of shenanigans, such as teaching other coyotes how to beg.

She told Cowboy State Daily that Limpy, who she calls Tripod, still seems tenacious.

“I saw Tripod about a month ago. He definitely looks older, but still walking his territory, which has expanded,” she said.

He might have won a bout with mange, a disease that kills many wild canines, Smedley said.

That’s admirable, though she wishes he would give up his grifting ways.

“Apparently, he was ill with possibly mange. About three months ago, he lost his territory, according to someone who knows him very well. To me his fur looked normal and, unfortunately, he is still walking the roads for handouts,” she said.

‘Bright And Aware’

Limpy still has plenty of life in his eyes, wildlife photographer Deby Dixon told Cowboy State Daily.

She noted that he had bounced back nicely from the apparent mange.

“The main thing is that he has recovered from whatever was ailing him a couple of months ago and his eyes, while old, are bright and aware,” she said.

“He’s up to his old tricks,” traveling many miles, often close to roads, she noted.

‘An Awesome Little Guy’

She recently watched Limpy pull a fast one on another male coyote, for an opportunity to mate with a female.

Initially, it looked as if the other male had run Limpy off. But then Dixon saw the other male “crouching and advancing slowly.”

“Suddenly, here comes Limpy, trotting down the hill and walks right up to the guy and just stands there, tail tucked and waiting.  I thought sure I would see Limpy’s demise, but the other coyote just walked back and forth past Limpy a couple of times and then left,” she said.

“Limpy was sly - he waited and watched for a while,” and then took off in the direction the female had gone, Dixon added.

She said she’s amazed that Limpy has lasted as long as he has, with so many other coyotes and wolves around.

“I wonder if he may be related to the other coyotes and they are giving him a pass, probably due to his bum leg,” she said.

She added that she had never seen an injured coyote last so long.

For as long as he’s around, Limpy will continue to win fans.

Oregon resident Jennifer Banks Stapchuk recently visited Yellowstone and told Cowboy State Daily that she was quite taken with Limpy.

“He’s such an awesome little guy,” she said.

Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.