When are coyotes active?
Nocturnal and diurnal are important terms to describe animal behavior, but so is cathemeral. Here is an explanation of what those terms mean and examples of what animals exhibit that behavior.
Most, but surprisingly, not all animals are either diurnal or nocturnal. Personally, my family and most of the people I know are diurnal. However, sometimes my wife will have to stay up all night working, which makes her nocturnal. That got me wondering if there are any animals that will sometimes change their activity patterns or if all animals are only one way or the other?
What Is Diurnal?
To begin with I just wanted to clarify what exactly it means to be diurnal. Diurnal means to be active during the day. Animals that are diurnal wake up when the sun rises and go to sleep when the sun sets.
Many animals are diurnal, including mammals such as dogs, squirrels, and elephants.
What Is Nocturnal?
Animals that are nocturnal are active at night and sleep during the daytime. During the middle of the day these animals may be in their burrow underground, in a cave, or hiding in a dark, shady spot in the trees. Then once the sun sets they start to wake up and become active.
Some common animals that are nocturnal include bats, owls, and leopards.
Photo via Flickr.
Cathemeral – Those Animals That Are Both Nocturnal And Diurnal
Yes, there are some animals that are not always one or the other. Some animals are not active only during the day or during the night.
There are certain kinds of animals that are called crepuscular. Crepuscular animals are active during twilight and dawn.
Additionally, it turns out that there are other animals that are sometimes active during the day and other times active at night. The term for those kind of animals is cathemeral.
River otters vary the time of day they are active throughout the year.
Cathemeral Animals
Cathemeral animals activity changes throughout the year. Sometimes they are active during the day and other times they switch and are active at night time. These animals may switch up their activity patterns for a variety of reasons such as access to food, temperature, and minimizing the risk of predation (being eaten!).
Unfortunately, it is not always an easy, clear cut case that an animal is always nocturnal, diurnal, or cathemeral. In general though, some of the animals that are cathemeral are types of cats such as bobcats and cougars. Other cathemeral animals include wolverines, frogs, coyotes, and mountains goats.