The first and last animal

Many Native American tribes credit the coyote with helping God create the world and prepare it for the first people. Or, according to other's beliefs, the coyote performed the magic himself.

In the legends of many tribes, the coyote made the first humans from feathers, mud or straw.

The Zuni believed that the coyote taught man to hunt, the Sioux that the coyote taught humans the use of medicinal plants, the Shasta and others believe the coyote gave man fire, the Kutenai that the coyote divided the day into equal parts of light and darkness.

To the Indians, "Old Man Coyote" was, in turn, creator, transformer, trickster.

As transformer, the coyote was said to have altered the course of rivers, moved mountains and dried up lakes, correcting mistakes made when Earth was created.

In the belief of the Navajo and the Hopi, the coyote changed the course of the sun and removed all but one moon from the evening sky, rearranged the stars and scattered the seeds of plants all over the countryside.

KISSIN' COUSINS- Left, Trickster, a male coyote, nibbles on Mesa, his sister, at the Nature of Wildworks center in Topanga. The coyote plays many roles in native American lore, taking on the guise of creator, trickster and transformer in Native American lore.

According to the Mandan, the coyote took speech away from dogs because they bickered and gossiped.

To humans, the coyote gave the greatest gift, the ability to think. People prospered, but when the coyote realized there would not be enough food to feed everyone, death was introduced into the world.

In its third guise, as trickster, the coyote was not revered or admired. As trickster, the coyote was seen as a mischief-maker that cheats, lies and steals. Some believed that wrongdoers, upon reaching the land of the dead, were sent back to Earth as coyotes.

Always, the coyote played an important role, good and bad, in the native people's religion. The Blackfoot devoutly appealed to the coyote for help and protection. California's Indians held rites honoring the coyote and venerated a mythical white coyote that lived beside a river flowing through the sky.

Medicine men received guidance from a supernatural coyote. By listening to the howls of the coyotes, a shaman could discern whether a friend or enemy was approaching in the dark.

The elders of the Navajo will not kill or skin a sheepeating coyote because they believe coyotes are spirits of the dead, while young Navajos are likely to shoot or trap coyotes that prey upon sheep.

But all still call the coyote "God's dog."

According to the Navajo, the coyote keeps his life force in the tip of his nose and the tip of his tail. When his body is killed, he simply puts his life forces together again and comes back to life.

"Coyote cannot die," the native people say. In more then one legend, it is prophesied that the coyote will be the last animal that remains on Earth.

Founded by Mollie Hogan in 1995, the Nature of Wildworks provides interactive wildlife educational programs to enhance the public's understanding of nature and the environment and to ensure lifetime quality care for the abandoned, orphaned and nonreleasable animals in the group's care. Nature of Wildworks currently cares for two coyote siblings, Trickster and Mesa. For information, visit www.natureofwildworks.org.