The University of Mississippi conducted research over the 4 year period 1993-97 to determine how the sympatric mesocarnivores....... The Bobcat, Coyote and Gray Fox interact in our Southeast..............."Bobs" and Coyotes do in fact share core home ranges whereas Coyotes and Gray Foxes while having overlapping home ranges, do not share proximate core ranges...................The literature suggests that Coyotes come out on top in encounters with both Bobcats and Foxes.............Gray Foxes can climb trees(Red Foxes cannot climb) and evidence in Southeastern Canada that we have discussed previously suggests that Gray Foxes are displacing Red Foxes in high density Coyote habitat due to their ability to use the tree canopy as a sanctuary

Research Findings

Interactions Between Bobcats and Coyotes

We radiomarked and simultaneously monitored 61 adult bobcats and 37 adult coyotes from 1993-97. We documented 143 instances of home range and core area overlap among 24 adult bobcats and 15 adult coyotes and coyotes frequently overlapped portions of several bobcat home ranges. Home range overlap was greatest during breeding-gestation, compared to fall-winter and parturition-young rearing. However, core area overlap was similar during fall-winter, breeding-gestation, and parturition-young rearing. The 2 species essentially shared core areas in some instances and large portions of bobcat home ranges were contained within coyote core areas, indicating that bobcats and coyotes often concentrated activities in the same areas. Bobcat captures were not correlated (P = 0.243) with coyote captures during the study. No interactions occurred at 0 m (i.e., direct contact), indicating that bobcats and coyotes were never located together. Our findings suggest that bobcats and coyotes were either not located within 50 m of each other, or were less likely to be so than expected in most instances. However, beyond 100 m, bobcats and coyotes simultaneously monitored were frequently located closer together than expected.

Interactions Between Coyotes and Gray Fox

We documented 54 instances of home range overlap between the species and coyotes frequently overlapped portions of several gray fox home ranges. Four gray fox maintained home ranges within coyote home ranges. Home range overlap was greatest during fall-winter. Similarly, core area overlap was greatest during fall-winter, but negligible during breeding-denning and whelping-pup rearing. In general, the 2 species maintained nearly exclusive core areas. No interactions occurred at 0 m (i.e., direct contact). Three of 33 interactions occurred within 50 m, indicating a coyote and gray fox were <50 m apart while simultaneously being monitored. Most simultaneous locations indicated that coyotes and gray fox were rarely <350 m from each other when simultaneously moving through their home ranges.