Tuesday, March 26, 2019

"Wolves encounter unique hunting challenges during the winter as snow increases the cost of locomotion and influences their ability to detect and pursue prey"..........."During the two winters of 2013-14, University of Alberta(Canada ) researchers investigated the effects of snowfall events on grey wolves in the boreal forest ecosystem of northeastern Alberta............"They found that wolves were less likely to travel on dates of snowfall events than any date prior to or after an event".............."Wolves also traveled more slowly during snowfall, but only when compared to their travel speed 24 hours before"............."Effects were most pronounced at night, when movements appeared to be consistent with hunting behavior"..........."Activity levels resumed within 24 hours of a snowfall ending".........."The Scientists conclude that wolves reduce their activity levels because precipitation dampens hunting success as their ability to detect prey(combined with changes in prey activity behaviour) dampen encounters and subsequent kill success"

›
https://phys.org/news/2018-12-wolves.html Snowed in: Wolves stay put when it's snowing, study shows December 19, 2018 by Ka...
Monday, March 25, 2019

Pennsylvania biologists have conducted some of the most extensive studies on the impact of Eastern Coyotes, Black Bears, Bobcats and Fishers on the Keystone State's estimated 1.5 million Whitetail Deer population...........Every Study reinforces the fact that even with the most robust existing eastern-state-predator-suite at play in Pennsylvania woodlands and farm fields(estimated 20,000 Black Bears and 60-100,000 Eastern Coyotes) , Whitetails are thriving and not recognizing any type of population decline...........Penn State Fish and Wldlife Deer and Elk Unit supervisor Chris Rosenberry emphatically states: "Our field studies have shown repeatedly that predators are the No. 1 cause of fawn mortality, and more often than not, black bears are taking the fawns".............In the most recent 2015-17 study, 82 fawns were captured and fitted with radio collars on the northern study area on the Susquehannock State Forest"............."Another 83 fawns were captured and radio-collared on the southern study area, which included parts of the Rothrock and Bald Eagle state forests".............."There were 44 mortalities on the northern study area: 33 from predators, six from humans and five from natural causes"............ "Bears took 18 fawns; coyotes, eight; bobcats, two; and unknown predator, five"............."The southern study area had 38 mortalities: 18 from predators, 13 natural causes and five from humans"..........."Coyotes took six fawns; bears, five; bobcats, five; and unknown predator, two"...............“But fawn mortality is not causing deer-population reductions anywhere in Pennsylvania"..........“There was no evidence that predators were taking too many of our fawns in any of our 23 Wildlife Management Units"............“They all have stable or growing whitetail populations"

›
https://www.media.pa.gov/Pages/Game-Commission-Details.aspx?newsid=221 Two Coyotes can kill adult Whitetail Deer but capturing fawns is...
3 comments:
Sunday, March 24, 2019

U. of Wyoming researchers have determined that in the face of potential Wolf predation, larger ungulates like Moose are more willing to stand their ground and not abandon their preferrred vegetation habitat near streams and marshy areas, especially in late winter when food is at a premium and starvation can be a very real fact of life...............Known as the STARVATION-PREDATION HYPOTHESIS, this behaviour response to the threat of wolf predation trumps THE LANDSCAPE OF FEAR HYPOTHESIS(prey animals avoid preferred habitat in the presence of predators) in this particular predator/prey interaction..............And as Wolves are coursing(chase) predators and prefer large expanses of open ground when pursuing prey, the late winter refuge of Moose in the horzontal tangle of marsh gives this hoofed browser added confidence to eat rather than flee when Wolves come into their "neighborhood..................Nonetheless, the U. of Wyoming Research team does acknowledge that although moose may be generally less responsive to predation risk from wolves, a heightened behavioral response by Moose during early winter suggests that anti-predator behavior is dynamic within and among species of ungulates"

›
: https://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/40367/20190314/hungry-moose-more-tolerant-wolves-presence.htm Hungry moose more to...
Friday, March 22, 2019

"For a little more than the past two years(2017-present), National Park Service researchers and volunteers in Los Angeles collected coyote scat at 27 sites, most of them in LA, including spots coyotes frequent in Griffith Park, Boyle Heights, Eagle Rock, Frogtown, Beverly Hills, Culver City and Baldwin Hills"............"In all, the research team collected and dissected more than 3,200 samples.........Investigating their diet is one part of a larger NPS coyote study from the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, dubbed the L.A. Urban Coyote Project"........."The overall goal is to better understand how the estimated 5,000 Los Angeles Coyote population has managed to carve out such a comfortable spot in the densely human populated, urban ecosystem we share together".........."The research reveals that in the city of Los Angeles and western northwest suburbs(1000 Oaks), the Coyote diet consists of----Read as City % first figure and suburb % 2nd figure): Human and pet foods 26% 8%,,,,, Rabbits 18% 48%..... Pocket gophers 9% 13%,,,,,, Ornamental fruits 26% 24%,,,,, Insects 19% 15%,,,,, Domestic cats 20% 4%"............."The bottom line is that City dwelling Coyotes depend heavily on human created food(garbage/pet food and cats) whereas suburban Coyotes lean toward rabbits and rodents, with both city and suburban canids loving fruit"............"From 1996-2004, the (NPS) biologists also studied coyote populations in Thousand Oaks, Agoura Hills and Calabasas in suburban Los Angeles and Ventura Counties".........."This study involved the capture and radio-collaring of 128 coyotes".......... "Coyotes were found to be present and in relatively high densities in almost all of the remaining natural habitat fragments throughout the study area"............."Although coyotes will visit the surrounding urban areas, they were found to prefer spending time in the natural open space"............"However, many of the remaining fragments around Thousand Oaks, Agoura Hills and Calabsas are too small to support a family group of coyotes, and therefore these groups must include multiple fragments within their home range"..........."To use these fragmented patches, coyotes are forced to travel through developed areas, including crossing roadways of various sizes".........."Some habitat fragments have become separated by large networks of urbanization so that even home and apartment dwellers not on the edge of natural areas may come into contact with coyotes as they move between these natural habitat patches"..........."However most of the coyotes that occur in these patches are rarely seen by the citizens living around them"..........."They tend to be very secretive, which has allowed them to persist in these urbanized areas"............... "In this suburban region of Los Angeles, Coyote diet consisted mainly consist of native fruits and small mammals such as rabbits, woodrats, and mice"..........."These suburban coyotes only occasionally utilized human food sources, most predominantly ornamental or non-native fruits which can constitute up to 25% of their diet".........."Other items such as trash, pet food and domestic pets may also be consumed on occasion, but constitutes a very small percentage of coyote diets in this study area"......... "The number one source of mortality in the study area was vehicle collisions".......... "Roads act as a barrier to movement and gene flow, as well as a direct source of mortality". The surprising find was that the next most important source of mortality for coyotes in the study area are rat poisons"............."Canids (a.k.a. dog species) are very vulnerable to the effects of anticoagulant rat poisons, the most commonly used method of rodent control worldwide"............"Coyotes are likely secondarily exposed to the poisons, meaning that they are consuming the small rodent pest species that people are targeting with the poisons"............"These poisons have a delayed action so that once a coyote eats the poisons, it can take up to 10 days for them to die"

›
https://www.google.com/url?rct=j&sa=t&url=https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2019/03/21/urban-coyote-poop/&ct=ga&cd=CAEYACoTMj...