[FEL-L] Who’s afraid of the big, bad wolf? Coyotes.

[GemOJungle at aol.com]

Coyotes Cower in Wolf Territory
By LiveScience Staff 
posted: 11 September 2007 12:28 pm ET

 
 
 
 
Who’s afraid of the big, bad wolf? Coyotes.  
While _coyotes _ 
(http://www.livescience.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=070911_two_coyotes_02.jpg&cap=Though+coyotes+will+hunt+in+small
,+single-sexed+groups,+they+don't+hunt+in+large+packs+as+wolves+do.+Credit:+Ju
lie+Larsen+Maher,+Wildlife+Conservation+Society&title=Coyotes+Cower+in+Wolf+Te
rritory&title=Coyotes%20Cower%20in%20Wolf%20Territory) are top wildlife 
predators in many parts of the country, they seem to be  wary of their Canis 
cousin, the wolf, with coyote densities dropping by  a third in wolf territory, a 
new study finds.  
The research, detailed online by the Journal of Animal Ecology,  examined the 
effects of wolves on coyote populations in Grand Teton National  Park and the 
southern greater Yellowstone ecosystem.  
Researchers followed radio-collared coyotes and found that while there are  
always more coyotes than wolves, there were fewer coyotes in the places where  
the two species overlapped.  
Coyote densities were 33 percent lower in the areas they shared with wolves  
in Grand Teton and 39 percent lower in the areas of Yellowstone where wolves  
were _recently  reintroduced_ 
(http://www.livescience.com/environment/wolf_ecosystem_041209.html) .  
About 16 percent of radio-collared coyotes were _preyed upon_ 
(http://www.livescience.com/animals/060802_brain_prey.html)   by wolves, the study found.  
Relative safety came only in numbers as coyotes without packs were more  
likely to become the wolves' dinner. Lone coyotes were also much more likely to  
leave an area inhabited by wolves than coyotes living in packs.  
“The study tests the hitherto unproven hypothesis that wolves limit the range 
 and numbers of coyotes in places where the two species compete with one  
another,” said study leader Kim Murray Berger, a Wildlife Conservation Society  
researcher. “In this instance, the findings do support the theory, but coyotes  
can hold their own against wolves by living in packs.”  
Humans are actually a bigger threat to coyotes than wolves, with 29 percent  
of the coyote mortality in the study attributable to human activities.  
    *   _Top 10  Deadliest Animals_ 
(http://www.livescience.com/animals/top10_deadliestanimals.html)  







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