Illinois Natural History Survey Reports

              1
I LLINOIS
NATURAL
HI STORY
S U R V E Y R e p o r t s
March/
April 1998
No. 350
I N S I D E Coyotes and Foxes in the Town and Country
Photo by Tim Van Deelen, INHS Center for Wildlife Ecology
Western Corn Root-worm
Flight Activity in
Soybeans
2
Anuran Call Surveys
4
Effects of Diversity on
Ecosystems
5
Lyme Disease Alert
5
Species Spotlight:
Bird's-eye Primrose
6
The Naturalist's
Apprentice:
Living on the Edge
7
One fox pup
was consistently
found in Memo-rial
Stadium and
scat was found
several times on
the bleachers...
Since the 1960s, coyote (Ca-nis
latrans) populations have
increased and stabilized while
red fox (Vulpes vulpes) popula-tions
apparently have decreased
throughout Illinois. Previous
studies suggest that coyotes are
intolerant of foxes where their
ranges overlap. Some farmers,
trappers, and hunters who recall
seeing higher numbers of foxes
in the past now believe there are
“too many” coyotes and blame
coyote predation for decreasing
fox numbers and low pheasant
populations. Foxes may be more
tolerant of human activity and
thus persist in agricultural areas
by exploiting habitat near human
development.
We are trying to determine
the nature of coyote intolerance
towards foxes (direct aggres-sion?
competition for a limited
resource? etc.). With funding
from the Illinois Department of
Natural Resources (IDNR) Fur-bearer
Fund, researchers from the
Illinois Natural History Survey
and University of Illinois are
using radiotelemetry to study
dispersal, habitat use, and mortal-ity
of foxes and coyotes in urban
and rural habitat that they share.
Preliminary results suggest some
emerging patterns of urban and
rural fox pups. Nearly all the fox
pups in developed areas have died
prior to dispersal due to sarcoptic
mange, while over half of the
rural fox pups have died after be-ing
hit by cars. To date, no fox
mortalities have been attributed
to coyote depredation. Coyote
pups also have had high mortality
rates (80%), but most of the mor-tality
occurred during dispersal
and the causes were due mostly
to car collisions and hunters. The
mortality causes for adults were
similar. Nearly half of the coy-otes
were shot over the winter
months, while the majority of the
adult foxes were hit by cars. Den
locations of coyotes and foxes
in the rural areas were located
in contrasting habitats. Coyote
dens were typically in the middle
of a mile section, along drainage
ditches or fence rows, while rural
fox dens were all located under
abandoned or little-used farm
buildings.
Radiotelemetry continues
to reveal interesting behaviors.
Both species tend to prefer corn-fi
elds over soybean fi elds during
hot summer days. On several oc-casions,
foxes were found in the
middle of subdivisions or small
towns prowling people’s yards at
night. Foxes also use industrial
Continued on back page
Co-author Todd Gosselink with young coyote.