Factors Determining Coyote (Canis latrans) Diets

Although studies have documented the potential for coyote (Canis latrans) food use to negatively affect wildlife populations and domesticated animals, they are often equivocal, possibly because most are of small spatial extent, and little is known of factors determining coyote diets. The objectives of this paper were to quantify the diet and identify factors determining coyote food use, particularly game species and livestock, over a large spatial and temporal extent.

In this study, contents of gastrointestinal tracts were identified from 263 coyotes opportunistically obtained from hunters, trappers, and as road-kills throughout Florida from December 2011 to February 2015. Road-kills were typically less than 2 days old at the time of collection. Collection date, method, and location (Table 1) were documented for all animals. The authors employed logistic regression in an information-theoretic framework to understand determinants of coyote food use. And all research and animal welfare protocols in this study were reviewed and approved: University of Florida Animal Research Permit (003-11WEC) and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Research Permit (SPGS-11-68).

The results showed that coyotes were opportunistic and omnivorous foragers with a diverse diet of vegetation, insects, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and more than 25 species of mammals (including important game species and livestock). They commonly consumed 11 food items (Virginia opossum [Didelphis virginiana], non-mast vegetation, feral hog [Sus scrofa], northern raccoon [Procyon lotor], insects, rabbits (Sylvilagus spp.), skunks [Mephitis mephitis and Spilogale putorius], white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), mast, birds, and cows [Bos taurus]). And the food use was determined by coyote age, sex, and body mass, season of the year, deer hunting and fawning seasons, livestock calving season, and coyote collection method and location/region.

In conclusion, as coyotes expand their range and numbers, conservationists may find it useful to understand how this opportunistic and adaptable predator uses available food sources to reduce conflict across the landscape.

Article by Wauren N. Latine and William M. Giuliano, from University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA.

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Image by Wayne Holt, from Flickr-cc.