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Post by TurTLe on May 27, 2011 21:42:41 GMT -6
Do coyotes cache? I'm not talking about burying chunks of meat, or things like that, but caching whole animals, such as swift fox?
I've never heard of them doing that, but have had a few kit fox tore to pieces caught in Arizona.
The reason I ask is because I'm reading a study done on swift fox in Western Kansas, and in the paper it says that four of the swift fox that were radio collared were killed and cached by coyotes.
Any thoughts?
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Post by trappincoyotes39 on May 28, 2011 5:21:07 GMT -6
anything is possible but not very common for coyotes to cache food in most areas, kill, feed and on they go.
What did they look like? Could have been a bobcat . Bobcats will cover and scratch stuff over a carcass at times, seen that done to a few antelope. Plus cats are known for ripping things up pretty good. A small swifty would be little match for a bobcat.
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Post by coyotewhisperer on May 28, 2011 11:11:58 GMT -6
I had a coyote getting into my chickens. He was placing them in a pile about a 1/4 mile from the chicken coop.
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Post by Danny Clifton on May 28, 2011 17:05:12 GMT -6
I wonder if coyotes actually eat fox unless starved into it? I know they kill fox. Any fox. The one I kept caged for several years wouldn't eat red fox meat. It would stash stuff like that in its pen though. Playing with it rolling on it urinating on it. Did the same thing with stuffed kids toys my wife gave it to play with. I dont know if thats a cache or not since its not a food saving behavior.
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Post by rk660 on May 31, 2011 0:09:12 GMT -6
I always figured when you see a deer or sometimes dead livestock disappear in one night, that they gulp down run off and regurgitate somewhere, then come back and do it again. kinda a greed thing to get all they can before their buddys do. figured thats the only way 100-150 of meat disappears in one night from prolly only 4-5 coyotes. a 30 lb coyote aint packing 25 lb meat in his belly at one time.
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Post by fightclubonfridays on May 31, 2011 19:52:34 GMT -6
several years back while bushhogging a few acres of briar patch I watched a pair of coyotes kill 30+ rabbits. They would catch, kill, drop then repeat. after the slaugher they carried them off one by one. that was more than just one meals worth. that was propably the coolest thing I have seen from a tractor.
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Post by Danny Clifton on Jun 4, 2011 8:31:05 GMT -6
That behavior, stashing food, is what I'd call a cache. I think in the case of kitt fox its for some other reason. Kinda like when they get lucky and carry off a scent post.
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Post by TurTLe on Jun 4, 2011 10:42:00 GMT -6
I'm thinking along the same lines as Danny. I think the guys doing the study used a poor choice of words when stating that 4 of the fox were cached. If they were actually cached, I'd be more apt to blame it on bobcat than a coyote.
It is an interesting study though, especially when it shows the difference of predation on swift fox in rangeland compared to cropland.
If anyone wants to read it, it was published in the Southwestern Naturalist in June 2000. Titled "The Swift Fox in Rangeland and Cropland in Western Kansas: Relative Abundance, Mortality, and Body Size." Written by Raymond Matlock, Philip Gipson, and Donald Kaufman.
Just so happens that Donald Kaufman was my Wildlife Management and Mammology professor. Was interesting to see his name on this study, because he is mainly a small mammal ecologist mostly working with rodents.
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