coyote ageing

[Iowa Badger]

I think this was posted by Wiley E on trapperman a few years ago. Find it pretty darn interesting.



The above figure represents average tooth wear in a coyote, by years, at mid-winter.

1 yr. – Incisors all rounded; no wear facets; canines sharp, incomplete.

2 yr. – Incisors inner cusp blunted; distinct wear facet; notch distinct; incisor (1) slightly blunted; canines complete.

3 yr. – Incisor flat, notch barely visible; incisor (1) almost square, inner notch distinct, incisor (2) inner cusp half gone; other incisors showing some blunting.

4 yr. – Incisor flat; dentine showing, notch gone; incisor (2) almost flat, incisor (1) worn to inner notch; incisor (2) blunted; both notches visible.

5 yr. – Incisor (1, 2) flat, notches gone; incisor (3) notch visible; incisor (1, 2) flat both inner and outer notches gone, incisor (3) distinctly blunted.

6 yr. – Lower incisors essentially flat across with only tiny notch in incisor (3); incisors (1, 2) flat across, all notches gone; PM (pre-molars) cusps showing wear.

7 yr. – Notch gone from incisor (3), upper incisors flat except incisor (3); canines and all cusps of PM and M (molars) distinctly worn.

Mature coyotes, 2 to 6 years old, have teeth with an increasing degree of wear on the canines and incisors and the animals are heavier in body weight. Older animals of 7 years or more may have teeth that are beginning to yellow and usually show wear on all the teeth. The canine and incisor teeth are sometimes broken or missing.

[trappnman]

Interesting indeed- I have that chartan use it.

Funny thing- the first time we collared- we "guessed" adult, juvenile based on the scientific principle of wwhat looked like an adult and what didn't.

Poor way.

In checking ages on the collared coyotes that were killed during the study - we were surprized to learn that most of the ones we were calling adults were in fact yoy.

[Dusty]

Coyotes are widespread omnivores - that chart is probably great for the area in which it was written, but I question it's validity when presented as the end-all to ageing coyotes.

Watermelon-eaters in the south may never wear their teeth out - assuming they spit the seeds.

Coyotes eating kangaroo rats in California probably don't wear their teeth out much faster.

Coyotes gnawing on frozen winterkilled deer probably die of starvation at 4 or 5 when their teeth wear out.

Deer and moose ageing charts are fairly geographically specific, I suspect the same is true for coyotes.

If you really want to know how old your coyotes are, pull a tooth and have it sectioned. Chances are, you can find someone (biologist, professor, etc.) to pay for it if you look a little bit.

[Harvey]

I don't have a lot of experience in trapping coyotes (first year), but I weighted all the specimens and I suspect I caught 6 males juveniles (I mean 6 months old, ie approximatively 25 pounds) on their late fall dispersion pattern, and only 2 adults (45 pounds). The adult's teeth looks in good shape and I think they were no more than 1 year and a half old. Trapping is so intensive that the probability to catch and old guy by an inexperience trapper is very low ? Am I right ?? Gilles

[trappnman]

In a small numbers study, the population here seems to turn over every 2 years-

[Dusty]

In one population in AK with a few collared coyotes, there have been no surviving pups for the last several years - if you catch a coyote in the foothills of the AK range, it'll probably be an adult.

Don't believe most of what you hear about adults being smart or hard to catch. That is probably the case in hard-hit areas, it isn't here or in a couple other areas that I've trapped.

I've never seen any correlation between weight and age, and I'd be surprised if that holds up very well.

If you're absorbing 10% of the information presented in forums like this one, you have more experience than a lot of the "real" coyote trappers. Now you just have to sort out the BS and put the rest of the theory into practice. Don't sell yourself short!

[trappnman]

Dusty- been thinking about your tooth wear in different areas based on food eaten theroy-

In most areas, coyotes change thier food habits regularly- chaing with the seasons. In other words- cooytes in my area eat different things according to the seasons- carrion, small mammals and birds, grains and fruit, etc.

All things in rotation (according to scat studies)- small game, etc more so in Spring/Fall- grain, fruits, insects in Summer and big game, carrion in Winter.

A wide variety of things based on availability and the seasons.

Wouldn't then, the average coyote, eating a variety of things, have teeth that "averaged out"? Whether in Mississippi or NY or Minnesota?

Hard to say exactly what I mean- but do you see what I am trying to say?

[Dusty]

I agree, at least partially. Coyotes are about as omnivorous as any member of the order Carnivora; if it ain't nailed down, they'll eat it. That said, I'd suspect they have wildly different things available to them - not too many frozen moose in MS, and not too many road-killed and ripe deer in AK.

Heck, the gut contents of prey could affect tooth wear - if they're ground squirrels (full of grass which is, in turn, full of silica) they're going to grind away more than if they're eating tundra voles full of blueberries.

We need someone with deep pockets to finance ageing a few thousand teeth from the several dozen states represented by trappers here.

[briankroberts]

I see a diet of many things here just like Tman said, apples in the fall, deer during deer season and to a lesser degree all year, field corn, blackberries.
I also think it would average out.
I use the chart shown in this post and do believe for my area where the diet varies its probably pretty close......B......

[Wackyquacker]

Dusty, any thoughts on ageing cats? Now if you're thinking about coming back with the sectioning answer don't...try and be helpful.