Wild animals

   This is a picture of a coyote that I took in the Marin Headlands, just across the Golden Gate Bridge, north of San Francisco, California. My wife and I often take a short drive there at either dusk or dawn in hopes of seeing animals in the wild, and this time we were lucky. The coyote leisurely trotted next to the road, which is near a small body of water called Rodeo Lagoon, seemingly undisturbed by our presence. I treasure these moments of encountering something in the wild, because they seem so much more real to me than the other experiences I have in my life. A wild animal in its' environment seems so much more natural to me than mine.  The word nature is also used to connote what we see when we leave the city to experience tranquility, and a slower pace of life. How can anything be more natural than nature?
   The Merriam-Webster dictionary's first definition of the adjective 'natural' is "based on an inherent sense of right and wrong", but the first definition for the noun 'natural' is "one born without the usual powers of reason and understanding". So, it seems that is is natural to be born without the ability to make judgments based on reasoning, but it is unnatural to not develop it inherently. It's confusing.
   We all live in the environments that we do, and it is the reality for us. The coyote in the picture goes about it's routine, searching for food and water, sleeping, assessing things around it, and keeping clear of danger, much the way animals confined in a zoo or controlled habitat do, albeit in different
surroundings. As a human being, I do much the same thing that other animals do, but my searches seem more regimented and planned.
   I can easily see crows, pigeons, ducks and gophers here in the city, but they seem much less wild to me, so I venture to 'nature'.  Is one environment more authentic than another?
   Maybe if I could manage to think of myself as something that had to traveled to in order to be seen, as something mysterious, I could manage to feel more real. Perhaps I could then look in the mirror, and see a wild animal.