Scent-marking behavior of sympatric wolves (Canis lupus) and coyotes (C. latrans) in Riding Mountain National Park

1991 ◽  
Vol 69 (7) ◽  
pp. 1721-1727 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul C. Paquet
Keyword(s):  
Canis Lupus ◽  
National Park ◽  
Scent Marking ◽  
Scent Marks ◽  
Riding Mountain National Park ◽  
Ecological Separation

The objectives of this study were to describe the scent-marking behavior of sympatric wolves and coyotes, and determine whether scent marking has an interspecific behavioral significance and, if so, whether it is involved in maintaining ecological separation of the two species. The hypotheses tested were that coyotes travelling within active wolf areas reduce their frequency of marking and avoid wolf scent marks, and that wolves react to sympatric coyotes as transgressing conspecifics, and increase their scent marking. Marking by the two species was similar, both canids using the same scent mounds. Coyotes did not avoid areas marked by wolves, nor did they minimize evidence of their own activity. Coyotes increased their marking significantly in response to wolves. Wolves, however, did not respond to marks by coyotes.

No trespassing: using a biofence to manipulate wolf movements

2013 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 207 ◽  
Author(s):  
David E. Ausband ◽  
Michael S. Mitchell ◽  
Sarah B. Bassing ◽  
Craig White
Keyword(s):  
Canis Lupus ◽  
Scent Marking ◽  
First Year ◽  
Scent Marks ◽  
Location Data ◽  
Human Land Use ◽  
Sign Surveys ◽  
Continuous Presence ◽  
Marking Behaviour ◽  
And Control

Context Conserving large carnivores can be challenging because of conflicts with human land use and competition with humans for resources. Predation on domestic stock can have negative economic impacts particularly for owners of small herds, and tools for minimising carnivore depredation of livestock are needed. Canids use scent marking to establish territories and avoid intraspecific conflict. Exploiting scent-marking behaviour may provide a means for manipulating canid movements. Aims We hypothesised that human-deployed scent marks (i.e. ‘biofence’) could be used to manipulate the movements of grey wolves (Canis lupus) in Idaho, USA. Methods We deployed 65 km of biofence within three wolf-pack territories during summer 2010 and 2011 and used location data from satellite-collared wolves and sign surveys to assess the effectiveness of biofencing. Key results Location data provided by satellite-collared wolves and sign surveys in 2010 showed little to no trespass of the biofence, even though the excluded areas were used by the packs in previous summers. We also opportunistically deployed a biofence in between a rendezvous site of a resident pack and a nearby sheep grazing allotment; the pack was not implicated in any depredations in summer 2010, even though they had killed sheep every year since 2006. Location data provided by satellite-collared wolves in summer 2011 showed that wolves did trespass biofences. Conclusions Biofencing effectively manipulated the movements of wolves in the first year of our study, but not the second. Implications Our work suggests that biofencing may be most limited by the apparent necessity to maintain a continuous presence once the biofence is established. The inherent labour and costs associated with such efforts may limit the usefulness of biofencing. Our work can be improved on through further testing that maintains biofencing over a longer timeframe (>3 months), samples several animals per treatment pack, and uses a treatment and control design.

scholarly journals The effect of neighbouring klipspringer on the scent–marking behaviour of a group of klipspringer in the Kruger National Park

Koedoe ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Kruger ◽  
J. Du P. Bothma ◽  
J.M. Kruger
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Scent Marking ◽  
Kruger National Park ◽  
Scent Mark ◽  
Scent Marks ◽  
Marking Behaviour ◽  
Strip Transect

Both the male and the female klipspringer scent-mark their ranges. A pair of pre-orbital glands below the eyes produces the scent. The secretion is a sticky, substance that is deposited on a suitable twig. Klipspringer scent marks were surveyed in a specific klipspringer range in the Kruger National Park with the use of a strip transect method. The results showed that klipspringer in the Kruger National Park scent-mark more frequently on the boundaries of their ranges and also more on those sides where there is another resident klipspringer group.

Wolf body mass, skull morphology, and mitochondrial DNA haplotypes in the Riding Mountain National Park region of Manitoba, Canada

2010 ◽  
Vol 88 (5) ◽  
pp. 496-507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Astrid V. Stronen ◽  
Graham J. Forbes ◽  
Tim Sallows ◽  
Gloria Goulet ◽  
Marco Musiani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mitochondrial Dna ◽  
Great Lakes ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Canis Lupus ◽  
National Park ◽  
Skull Morphology ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
Riding Mountain National Park ◽  
Canis Lycaon ◽  
Provincial Park

Two types of wolves, gray ( Canis lupus L., 1758) and eastern ( Canis lupus lycaon Schreber, 1775 or Canis lycaon ) or Great Lakes wolves, representing Old World (OW) and New World (NW) mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) haplotypes, have been reported in eastern Canada and the Great Lakes region. Both haplotypes were found in Duck Mountain Provincial Park and Forest, Manitoba. Only OW haplotypes have been reported from the isolated Riding Mountain National Park (RMNP), 30 km to the south. Wolves with NW haplotypes hybridize with C. lupus and coyotes ( Canis latrans Say, 1823) and could mediate gene flow between canids. We examined available data on wolf body mass, skull morphology, and mtDNA from the RMNP region, as well as mtDNA from Manitoba and Saskatchewan, to assess the occurrence of NW haplotypes in wolves and possible canid hybridization. Mean body mass of female (n = 54) and male (n = 42) RMNP wolves during 1985–1987 was higher than that of females (n = 12) and males (n = 8) during 1999–2004. Thirteen skull measures from 29 wolf skulls did not suggest significant differences between RMNP and Duck Mountain wolves. Nineteen of 20 RMNP samples had OW haplotypes, whereas one clustered together with NW haplotypes.

Helminths in coyotes (Canis latrans Say), wolves (Canis lupus L.), and red foxes (Vulpes vulpes L.) of southwestern Manitoba

1978 ◽  
Vol 56 (12) ◽  
pp. 2614-2617 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. M. Samuel ◽  
S. Ramalingam ◽  
L. N. Carbyn
Keyword(s):  
Echinococcus Granulosus ◽  
Canis Lupus ◽  
Vulpes Vulpes ◽  
National Park ◽  
Red Foxes ◽  
Taenia Hydatigena ◽  
Parasitic Helminths ◽  
Riding Mountain National Park ◽  
Prevalent Species ◽  
Toxascaris Leonina

Forty-three coyotes, 12 wolves, and 6 red foxes from an area around Riding Mountain National Park in southwestern Manitoba were examined for parasitic helminths. Eleven, 8, and 5 species were found in coyotes, wolves, and red foxes, respectively. Alaria marcianae, Alaria arisaemoides, and Toxascaris leonina were found in all three host species; Echinococcus granulosus, Taenia hydatigena, Uncinaria stenocephala, and Oslerus (Oslerus) osleri in wolves and coyotes; and Echinococcus multilocularis in coyotes and red foxes. Taenia pisiformis and T. leonina were the most prevalent species in coyotes; E. multilocularis and E. granulosus, the most numerous. Echinococcus granulosus was the most prevalent and numerous species in wolves. Alaria marcianae and T. leonina were found in all red foxes. The significance of the coyote as a major definitive host of E. multilocularis in southwestern Manitoba is discussed.

Leadership behavior in relation to dominance and reproductive status in gray wolves, Canis lupus

2002 ◽  
Vol 80 (8) ◽  
pp. 1405-1412 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rolf O Peterson ◽  
Amy K Jacobs ◽  
Thomas D Drummer ◽  
L David Mech ◽  
Douglas W Smith
Keyword(s):  
Travel Time ◽  
Parental Investment ◽  
Canis Lupus ◽  
Yellowstone National Park ◽  
National Park ◽  
Leadership Behavior ◽  
Scent Marking ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Gray Wolves ◽  
Males And Females

We analyzed the leadership behavior of breeding and nonbreeding gray wolves (Canis lupus) in three packs during winter in 1997–1999. Scent-marking, frontal leadership (time and frequency in the lead while traveling), initiation of activity, and nonfrontal leadership were recorded during 499 h of ground-based observations in Yellowstone National Park. All observed scent-marking (N = 158) was done by breeding wolves, primarily dominant individuals. Dominant breeding pairs provided most leadership, consistent with a trend in social mammals for leadership to correlate with dominance. Dominant breeding wolves led traveling packs during 64% of recorded behavior bouts (N = 591) and 71% of observed travel time (N = 64 h). During travel, breeding males and females led packs approximately equally, which probably reflects high parental investment by both breeding male and female wolves. Newly initiated behaviors (N = 104) were prompted almost 3 times more often by dominant breeders (70%) than by nonbreeders (25%). Dominant breeding females initiated pack activities almost 4 times more often than subordinate breeding females (30 vs. 8 times). Although one subordinate breeding female led more often than individual nonbreeders in one pack in one season, more commonly this was not the case. In 12 cases breeding wolves exhibited nonfrontal leadership. Among subordinate wolves, leadership behavior was observed in subordinate breeding females and other individuals just prior to their dispersal from natal packs. Subordinate wolves were more often found leading packs that were large and contained many subordinate adults.

Scent marking in coyotes

1980 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 473-480 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Don Bowen ◽  
Ian McTaggart Cowan
Keyword(s):  
National Park ◽  
Canis Latrans ◽  
Scent Marking ◽  
Dominant Male ◽  
Scent Mark ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
Scent Marks ◽  
Jasper National Park ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Marking Behaviour

The scent marking behaviour of coyotes, Canis latrans, was studied in Jasper National Park, Alberta, during the period 1974–1976. Results show that adult males and females scent mark throughout their territory at all times of the year. Urine is most frequently used in marking. The rate of scent marking at the edge of the territory is approximately twice that in the center. This increase is accomplished by reducing the distance between scent-mark sites and increasing the proportion of multiple marks. All members contribute to the marking behaviour of the pack, although the dominant male marks most frequently. The scent marks of neighbours at territory borders are not avoided but vigourously marked. Nevertheless, it appears that marking is associated with the maintenance of territory.

scholarly journals Table scraps: inter-trophic food provisioning by pumas

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 776-779 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Mark Elbroch ◽  
Heiko U. Wittmer
Keyword(s):  
Canis Lupus ◽  
National Park ◽  
Puma Concolor ◽  
Large Carnivores ◽  
Food Provisioning ◽  
Ecological Functions ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Food Subsidies ◽  
Vultur Gryphus ◽  
Natural Communities

Large carnivores perform keystone ecological functions through direct predation, or indirectly, through food subsidies to scavengers or trophic cascades driven by their influence on the distributions of their prey. Pumas ( Puma concolor ) are an elusive, cryptic species difficult to study and little is known about their inter-trophic-level interactions in natural communities. Using new GPS technology, we discovered that pumas in Patagonia provided 232 ± 31 kg of edible meat/month/100 km 2 to near-threatened Andean condors ( Vultur gryphus ) and other members of a diverse scavenger community. This is up to 3.1 times the contributions by wolves ( Canis lupus ) to communities in Yellowstone National Park, USA, and highlights the keystone role large, solitary felids play in natural systems. These findings are more pertinent than ever, for managers increasingly advocate controlling pumas and other large felids to bolster prey populations and mitigate concerns over human and livestock safety, without a full understanding of the potential ecological consequences of their actions.

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