Faced with myriad challenges in urban or undeveloped areas, how long do coyotes live in the wild? 

Coyotes range throughout the United States, expanding from their original range of the Great Plains and west from Alaska to Central America. We find coyotes in the open spaces of Texas and Kansas, city spaces from New York to Los Angeles, and suburban gated communities. They eat rats and cats, pets and fruit, and are adaptable enough to make a home in a city park or desert space with millions of acres.

Coyotes run up against myriad obstacles. Trapping and hunting, of course. Diseases can hit them anywhere, including mange, rabies or distemper. Vehicles and animal control officials in cities. From the time pups are born in April or May until death, they face challenges whether they're hanging around with littermates and parents or months later strike out on their own.

How long coyotes live, then, is one of those "it depends" situations. Given all things copacetic in which they avoid hunters, disease, have ample food and habitat, and nothing else happens, wild coyotes could live 6-8 years. Possibly up to 10-14 years, according to the University of Michigan Animal Diversity Web.

Head to a zoo or other captive situation, though, and the age jets to about 20 years.