Fauna Series No. 4

Fauna of the National Parks — No. 4 Ecology of the Coyote in the Yellowstone

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cover

FOREWORD

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION

Location and general character of area
Early wildlife conditions in Yellowstone
Comparison of the primitive and present wildlife status
Predator control

CHAPTER II. POPULATION AND MORTALITY

Numbers of coyotes
Movements of coyotes out of park
Coyote mortality and natural controls

CHAPTER III. HABITS

Behavior at carrion
Caching
Coyote-raven relationships
Coyote-magpie relationships
Family hunting ground
Sociability
Play
Swimming
Limitations on travel
Tolerance of humans

CHAPTER IV FOOD

Study technique
Items in the coyote diet

CHAPTER V. ELK IN RELATION TO COYOTES

Elk as coyote food
Maternal protection
Calf survival, 1937
Status of elk

CHAPTER VI. MULE DEER IN RELATION TO COYOTES

Winter range
Deer as coyote food
General condition of deer, winter of 1937—38
Deer mortality, winter of 1937—38
Fawn survival
Loss of fawns
Coyote method of hunting fawns
Coyote predation correlated with range conditions
Deer-coyote behavior
Status of deer

CHAPTER VII. ANTELOPE IN RELATION TO COYOTES

Winter range
Spring activities
Maternal protection
Relationships of bucks to does and fawns
Fawn survival
General condition of antelope
Antelope deaths
Antelope-coyote relationships
Status of antelope

CHAPTER VIII. BIGHORN IN RELATION TO COYOTES

Distribution and numbers
General condition of bighorn
Bighorn deaths
Lamb survival
Lamb-ewe relationships
Bighorn-magpie relationships
Bighorn-coyote relationships
Status of bighorn

CHAPTER IX. OTHER LARGE MAMMALS IN RELATION TO COYOTES

Bison
Moose
Domestic cow
Black bear
Coyote
Carcass fragments in coyote diet

CHAPTER X. SMALL MAMMALS IN RELATION TO COYOTES

Field mouse
Pocket gopher
Snowshoe hare
Marmot
Muskrat
Ground squirrel
White-tailed jackrabbit
Porcupine
Deer mouse
Pine squirrel
Beaver
Cottontail rabbit
Miscellaneous small mammals

CHAPTER XI. BIRDS IN RELATION TO COYOTES

Ducks
Canada goose
Trumpeter swan
Richardson grouse
Ruffed grouse
Other bird remains

CHAPTER XII. MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS OF DIET

Insects
Snakes, fish, and snails
Vegetable matter
Other items

CHAPTER XIII. CONCLUSIONS

BIBLIOGRAPHY

LIST OF IILUSTRATIONS

0 A Typical Yellowstone Coyote
1 Weakened Coyotes Easily Captured At Tower Falls
2 Dead Coyote Found Near Yellowstone Lake Ranger Station
3 A Coyote Which Recovered From Sickness While In Captivity
4 A Coyote At An Elk Carcass Challenges The Approach Of Another
5 Magpie Returning To An Elk Carcass After Caching A Morsel Of Meat
6 Coyotes And Magpies Feeding Together On Elk Carcass
7 Sketch Of Coyote And Ravens At Play
8 Weakened Cow Elk Crossing Madison River
9 Cow Elk Often Become Very Thin In The Spring
10 A Weak Calf Elk, Fallen On Its Side
11 Elk Carcass Upon Which Coyotes Recently Had Fed
12 In 1938 There Was More Elk Carrion Than The Coyote Could Eat
13 Elk Calves, Dead At Birth, Furnish Carrion For Coyotes
14 A Very Young Elk Calf Allows Itself To Be Petted
15 A Cow Elk Teaches Her Calf To Follow
16 Browse Line On Douglas Fir
17 Deer Range On Gardiner River Below Lava Creek
18 A Thin Fawn
19 Fawn Browsing On Sagebrush
20 Dead Fawn, Showing Infestation Of Nose Fly Larvae
21 A Sick Old Doe, After A Hard Winter
22 Mule Deer Bucks Fighting
23 Buck Killed In A Fight With Another
24 Band Of Deer Near Norris
25 Fawns Feeding On Greasewood
26 Cedar Heavily Browsed By Deer
27 A Fawn So Weak That It Collapsed After A Short Chase
28 Rocky Terrain In Which Deer May Become Crippled
29 An Old Doe, Almost Too Weak To Rise
30 The Same Doe Staggered Into The Gardiner River. From Which She Could Not Rise
31 Newly Born Antelope Blend Well With Their Surroundings
32 An Antelope Doe With Her Two Fawns
33 A Crippled Buck Antelope
34 Antelope Range Showing Sagebrush Killed By Overbrowsing
35 Fenced Plot, Showing Contrast Between Grazed And Un-Grazed Range Game Ranch
36 Heavily Browsed And Lightly Browsed Sagebrush On Opposite Sides Of An Old Fence Line
37 Bighorn Ram Heavily Infested With Scab
38 A Sick Old Ram Which Died Soon After Being Photographed
39 Magpie Perched On A Bighorn Ewe
40 Bighorn And Antelope On Mount Everts
41 Bighorn Feeding On Closely Grazed Elk Range
42 Fenced Plot, Showing Grazed And Ungrazed Range Mount Everts
43 A Bighorn Lamb Pawing Through Snow To Obtain Food
44 Water Hole In Which A Buffalo Was Bogged And Drowned
45 Black Bear, Tower Falls
46 Tracks In The Snow Showing Where Coyotes Hunted Mice
47 Sketch Of Coyote Catching Mouse
48 Sagebrush Killed By Mouse Girdling, Lamar Valley
49 Sagebrush Heavily Pruned By Pocket Gophers
50 Ground Squirrel Emerging Through The Snow In Early Spring
51 The Jackrabbit Is Sometimes Coyote Food
52 Cottontail Rabbit In Brush Tangle Near Gardiner River
53 Three Pair Of Canada Geese At Elk Park
54 Blue Grouse, Teton National Forest
55 Mormon Cricket, A Food Item Relished By Coyotes
56 Coyote Song
57 Map Of Yellowstone National Park

Last Modified: Thurs, Dec 20 2001 10:00:00 pm PDT
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