What do coyotes think?

Saw two or three on my morning run. The first had beautiful light fur and bolted across the path, up the mountain, into the trees. The second had a darker grey coat. It scampered off a bit then stopped, turning back to look at me as I jogged by.

As we locked eyes and I waved hello, it struck me how absurd it must appear for these coyotes to see weird blobs zipping by on mountain bikes, bundled up in hats and gloves. It hasn't always been this way, but maybe for these coyotes it has.

Do they teach their kids with nuzzles and grunts to avoid our inhabited areas, to steer clear of the path, to be careful around us? Do they think we are big stupid animals doing absurd things, failing to hunt the squirrels? Or are we gods to them?

At some point long ago, humans didn't have the same vocabulary we possess now. We probably nudged our young, grunting and redirecting their behaviors by force, the original CBT. Some still do. But fewer today think the skies are the domain of Zeus and the sun is a sacred spirit.

The coyotes and I, we aren't that different. Just a few million years of evolution between our 80% similar DNA. A few extra checks on the mimetic lizard brain.

Just like the coyotes, we're staring at the future as it runs by. We are facing forces we have not fully seen before. We've been demoted. There is an inexorable natural phenomenon unfolding. Our evolution is being sidelined.

Unlike the coyotes, we have a choice. How will we seek to comprehend and engage with the intelligence mobilizing before us?