putting a foot down
As it reached the other side of the path the coyote
extended a foot and put it down on top of the prey,
pinning it down, trapping it and sealing its fate.
The coyote stood up and kept its weight on its
prey for a full ten seconds -- an incredibly long
period of time when life and death are concerned...
standing absolutely still and looking off into the
distance. I actually could not tell that this is what
was happening until the coyote finally bent down
to pick up in his mouth what was under his foot
and run off with it before eating it.
In most instances that I have seen, a coyote
will scramble quickly to get a firm hold of
its prey in its mouth to prevent it from slipping
away. But this time there was a calmness as the
coyote stood there with his weight on the vole.
Had he been squeezing it to death -- preventing
respiration --on purpose, the same as the hawks
do? I have seen hawks hold onto and squeeze
a rodent over what felt like a long time, but in
fact was only about ten seconds, while looking
calmly off into the distance, exactly as the coyote
had done. It points to a behavior and a use of the
legs which I have not seen before.
- vole gets away
- trapping vole with paw
- standing calmly with weight on vole
- continuing to put weight on vole
- picking up the lifeless vole
- running off to enjoy a meal
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