Zoology Commons^™

Changes In Fecal Glucocorticoid Metabolites In Captive Coyotes (Canis Latrans): Influence Of Gender, Time, And Reproductive Status, Eric M. Gese, Patricia A. Terletzky, Cole A. Bleke, Erika T. Stevenson, Susannah S. French

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Simple summary

Biologists have long considered producing offspring a demanding time in the life of any animal, with reproducing and raising offspring being physiologically stressful. We examined whether breeding and producing pups was more stressful than other life-history stages among captive coyotes (Canis latrans) using fecal sampling and subsequent assays for glucocorticoid metabolites. Using 12 pairs of coyotes (five pairs produced pups, seven pairs did not), we examined fecal glucocorticoid metabolites (fGCM) covering 11 biological time periods for one year. We found high individual variability among both females and males with no apparent statistical effect of reproduction on …

Spatiotemporal Relationships Of Coyotes And Free-Ranging Domestic Cats As Indicators Of Conflict In Culver City, California, Rebecca N. Davenport, Melinda Weaver, Katherine C. B. Weiss, Eric G. Strauss

Center for Urban Resilience Scholarship

As habitat generalists, urban coyote (Canis latrans) populations often utilize an abundance of diverse food sources in cities. Within southern California, domestic cats (Felis catus) comprise a higher proportion of coyote diets than in other studied urban areas throughout the United States. However, it is unclear which ecological factors contribute to higher rates of cat depredation by coyotes in this region. While previous research suggests that coyote presence may have a negative effect on free-ranging domestic cat distributions, few studies have determined whether urban green spaces affect coyote or free-ranging domestic cat occurrence and activity within …

Plague Exposure In Mammalian Wildlife Across The Western United States, Sarah N. Bevins, Jeffrey C. Chandler, Nicole Barrett, Brandon S. Schmit, Gerald W. Wiscomb, Susan A. Shriner

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Plague is caused by a bacterial pathogen (Yersinia pestis) that can infect a wide range of mammal species, but its presence in wildlife is often underappreciated. Using a large-scale data set (n = 44,857) that details the extent of Y. pestis exposure in wildlife, we document exposure in 18 wildlife species, including coyotes (Canis latrans), bobcats (Lynx rufus), and black bears (Ursus americanus). Evidence of plague activity is widespread, with seropositive animals detected in every western state in the contiguous United States. Pathogen monitoring systems in wildlife that are both large scale …

Mesopredator Frugivory Has No Effect On Seed Viability And Emergence Under Experimental Conditions, John P. Draper, Trisha B. Atwood, Noelle G. Beckman, Karin M. Kettenring, Julie K. Young

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Members of the order Carnivora are a unique and important seed disperser who consume and deposit undamaged seeds while providing regular long-distance seed dispersal opportunities. Some members of Carnivora, such as coyotes (Canis latrans), are undergoing range expansions which may help the plant species they consume colonize new locations or replace dispersal services provided by recently extirpated species. In this study, we evaluated aspects of the seed dispersal effectiveness of coyotes and gut passage time to determine the potential dispersal distances for three commonly consumed and commonly occurring plant species (Amelanchier alnifolia, Celtis ehrenbergiana, and Juniperus osteosperma). We also investigated …

Dirofilaria Immitis Prevalence In Canis Latrans In Kentucky, Melanie Ann Brandon

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

Dirofilaria immitis (canine heartworm) was found in forty-two (42) of the two hundred seventy-five (275) Canis latrans (coyote) necropsied in the state of Kentucky from November 27, 2019 through March 3, 2021. Thirty-five (35) of the positive cases were from western Kentucky region with the other seven spread across the state. With this group of coyotes, one hundred fifty-eight (158) were male and the other one hundred six-teen (116) were female. The estimated age ranged from a pup to senior dogs. A little over forty percent of the dogs were obtained through coyote/predator tournaments; the remaining were acquired from pest …

Space Use In Free-Ranging Canids: Are Gonadal Hormones Required For Territory Maintenance?, Eric M. Gese, Patricia A. Terletzky

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Fertility control among carnivores has been used to reduce depredations on livestock and wild neonates, population control, modify behavior, inhibit genetic introgression, and reduce human–wildlife conflicts. Although there is considerable knowledge on techniques to sterilize carnivores, there is little information concerning how the absence of gonadal hormones influences behavior, space use, and survival of wild canids. We examined territorial fidelity, home-range size and overlap, and survival of 179 surgically sterilized free-ranging canids (124 coyotes (Canis latrans Say, 1823), 55 coyote – red wolf (Canis rufus Audubon and Bachman, 1851) hybrids) with gonadal hormones present (tubal-ligated females (n = 70), vasectomized …

Instability Of Glucocorticoid Metabolites In Coyote Scats: Implications For Field Sampling, Erika T. Stevenson, Eric M. Gese, Lorin A. Neuman-Lee, Susannah S. French

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Studying physiologic stress responses can assist in understanding the welfare of animals. One method of measuring the physiologic stress response is evaluating concentrations of glucocorticoid metabolites in feces. Previously, using an adrenocorticotropic hormone challenge, we found fecal glucocorticoid metabolite levels were a reliable indicator of physiologic stress response in coyotes (Canis latrans). We determine whether glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations remain stable when collecting feces over a 2-week period, a timeframe commonly used in scat surveys for wild canids. We collected feces from 6 captive coyotes maintained at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, Predator …

Using Stable Isotopes And Diet Analysis To Assess The Potential For Competition And Coexistence Among Coyotes (Canis Latransl, Red Foxes (Vulpes Vulpes), And Gray Foxes (Urocyon Cinereoargenteus) In Maine, Henry M. Masters

Student Scholarship

When two species compete for food, one species typically outcompetes the other. Subordinate species can alleviate costs of competition by reducing diet overlap, promoting coexistence. Non-native coyotes (Canis latrans) and historically native gray foxes (Urocyon cineroargenteus) have expanded their range in Maine and may compete with native red foxes (Vulpes vulpes). To investigate competition, I analyzed stable isotopes and stomach contents to determine if coyotes, red foxes, and gray foxes differed in use of anthropogenic foods and trophic position. I predicted that coyotes utilize anthropogenic foods the least (lowest δ13C), and red foxes utilize …

Implementing Welfare Science: Case Studies In Evidence-Based Zoo Management, Marisa Suzanne Spain

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Animal welfare science is a field that focuses on how we can improve the lives and well-being of animals in human care. Modern welfare science has moved away from simply preventing suffering and on to promoting positive welfare states, a concept that has been coined animal “wellness”. A process called evidence-based zoo management has been implemented in many zoos as a way to promote and ensure wellness. This is the idea that husbandry and housing standards should be evaluated and tested for their efficacy using data rather than relying on traditional best practices. In this manuscript we discuss an informal …

Spatiotemporal Partitioning Of Mammalian Mesopredators In Response To Drought And Urbanization In California's Central Valley, Chad W. Moura

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

Mammalian mesopredators commonly associated with human dominated landscapes often exhibit generalist diets, behavioral plasticity, and relatively high reproductive rates. Because of this wide range of adaptive traits, ecologists have been speculative of what conditions may drive species to change their activity and behavior to avoid or mitigate against resource competition, intraguild predation, and human disturbance. I investigated a community of common mesopredators within the Sacramento Metropolitan Area of California’s Central Valley to address whether species are spatially and/or temporally partitioning due to a defacto apex predator, coyotes (Canis latrans), and humans alongside large landscape altering disturbances: urbanization and drought. I …

Mind The Gap: Experimental Tests To Improve Efficacy Of Fladry For Nonlethal Management Of Coyotes, Julie K. Young, John Draper, Stewart Breck

USDA Wildlife Services: Staff Publications

Coyotes (Canis latrans) are the top predator of livestock in the contiguous United States. Developing more effective nonlethal tools to prevent coyote depredation will facilitate coexistence between livestock producers and coyotes. Fladry is a nonlethal deterrent designed to defend livestock by creating a visual barrier to wolves (C. lupus). Fladry may also be effective with coyotes, but large gap spacing between flags may reduce its efficacy. To address this issue, we performed 2 experiments on captive coyotes using fladry modified to reduce gap spacing at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Predator Research Facility in Millville, Utah, USA, during 2015–2016 and …

Canid Vs. Canid: Insights Into Coyote-Dog Encounters From Social Media, Erin E. Boydston, Eric S. Abelson, Ari Kazanjian, Daniel T. Blumstein

Human–Wildlife Interactions

While the relationship between coyotes (Canis latrans) and house cats (Felis catus) may be characterized as one between predators and their prey, coyote interactions with domestic dogs (C. lupus familiaris) appear to be more varied and may include behaviors associated with canid sociality. While encounters between coyotes and dogs are difficult to observe, we capitalized on publically available video recordings of coyote-dog encounters to observe canid behaviors and examined 35 video clips downloaded from YouTube during fall 2014. We identified coyote-dog interactions that were playful, agonistic, or predatory; those that we could not clearly …

Humans As Prey: Coping With Large Carnivore Attacks Using A Predator-Prey Interaction Perspective, Vincenzo Penteriani, Giulia Bombieri, José María Fedriani, José Vicente López-Bao, Pedro José Garrote, Luca Francesco Russo, María Del Mar Delgado

Human–Wildlife Interactions

The number of attacks on humans by large carnivores in North America is increasing. A better understanding the factors triggering such attacks is critical to mitigating the risk of future encounters in landscape where humans and large carnivore co-exist. Since 1955, of the 632 attacks on humans by large carnivores, 106 (17%) involved predation. We draw on concepts and empirical evidence from the Predator-Prey Interaction Theory to provide insights into how to reduce predatory attacks and, thus, improve human-large carnivore co-existence. Because large carnivore-caused mortality risks for humans are comparable to those shown by other mammal species in response to …

A History Of The Changes In Population Of Certain Mammals In Western Kansas, Floyd L. Carter

Master's Theses

This particular study has been restricted to certain mammals in western Kansas, including some on which there is little information, and others which observers would be most likely to notice in everyday life. For several years the writer has been vitally interested in the animal life in Kansas. Therefore, when the need for a study of western Kansas mammals was presented to him in the summer of 1936, the problem of this study was selected. It is hoped that this report will suggest to ecologists, historians, and others, further studies, including reasons for the changes here-in shown. What have been …