Dietary overlap between wolves and coyotes in Northwestern Montana
Arjo W, Pletscher D, Ream R. 2002. Dietary overlap between wolves and coyotes in Northwestern Montana. Journal of Mammalogy. 83(3):754-766
We studied effects of recolonizing wolves (Canis lupus) in the North Fork of the Flathead area of northwestern Montana on the diets of coyotes (C. latrans) from 1994 to 1997. Wolf and coyote diets differed in frequency of occurrence of prey species during 3 of the 4 summers and winters (P less than 0.001) during the study. Coyote diets contained more murid prey items, and wolf diets contained more deer (Odocoileus virginianus and O. hemionus) in the summer and elk (Cervus elaphus) in the winter. Coyotes and wolves ate prey of different size during both the summer (P less than 0.001) and winter (P less than 0.001) months in 1994– 1996: wolves took a greater proportion (P less than 0.001) of large (greater than 45 kg) prey species and coyotes, small (less than 2 kg) prey (P less than 0.001). Wolves selected a larger proportion of adults (P less than 0.001), whereas coyotes selected a larger proportion of juveniles (P less than 0.001) during summer. We believe that differential use of food resources facilitates coexistence of wolves and coyotes in the North Fork of the Flathead area.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Arjo, Wendy; Pletscher, Daniel; Ream, Robert
- Units
- GLAC
- Keywords
- Animal Studies, Canis latrans, Canis lupus, Coyote, Mammalogy, Wolf