Shadow Mountain Rockclimbing fiend

Although his prime interest was exploring and mapping the lands (oh, and learning all he could about mountain lions), Ishi also had a youthful curiosity that had him paying attention to the ins and outs of a species he'd never encountered before. But of course this all begged the question: was this your typical coyote, or a complete anomaly? Either way, the situation was pretty interesting.

Ishi turned his gold eyes from the landscape to regard his scrappy pal again. He'd only ever been in two wolf packs himself, but he'd heard of many others. Some of them are pretty samey, he began. An Alpha or two, and a hierarchy of subordinates who work together in hunting, marking, and keeping happy. But I guess there's two main differences, he continued, thinking about it carefully. One is the type of territory. One pack could claim a shoreline and live off fish, sleeping in caves, smelling of seasalt, and having pretty strong swimming skills. While another pack might live in a woodland and smell of flowers, using trees to hide from prey. As for the other difference... I guess you could call it temperament. Some packs are super nice, inviting in newcomers like long-lost relatives. While other packs are... er, less so! I've heard of some Alphas that would sooner skin you as look at you, and some packs that just throw you out if you're not perfect.