Mammals of the San Gabriel Mountains of CaliforniaVaughan, Terry A.
Science
Mammals of the San Gabriel Mountains of California
Vaughan, Terry A.
Mammals -- California, Southern
The forage beats of several coyotes were discovered in connection with
trapping specimens of these animals. In January, 1952, two coyotes,
probably a mated pair, traveled nightly from the slopes immediately west
of Evey Canyon, at about 3100 feet, down into the sagebrush adjacent to
the west side of San Antonio Wash, at about 1700 feet elevation. The
route led down open ridges, then for about one half mile across a level,
cultivated plateau, and then swung over the eroded banks near the
lowermost point of the plateau onto the level sage flats. The distance
covered by this route from the foothills down to the flats was somewhat
more than a mile, with about a 1400 foot difference in elevation between
the daytime retreat and the nocturnal forage area. Another route,
seemingly used by only one coyote, was somewhat longer. This animal
followed fire breaks and ridges from above Thompson Canyon down onto a
fire road, and then into the lower end of Palmer Canyon where it entered
the flats. This route covered about three miles in coming from the
foothills to the flats. Feces of this coyote often contained the
remains of white leghorn chickens which had been found at a refuse pile
near several chicken ranches one-half mile from the base of Palmer
Canyon.
Although no definite idea could be gained of the population density of
coyotes in the area, it was clear that in certain localities they were,
as carnivores go, abundant. After one large male was obtained in the
flats at the base of Cobal Canyon, at least two other individuals were
heard howling in this immediate area, and their tracks were noted
repeatedly on dirt roads. One night early in January, 1952, immediately
west of the head of San Antonio Wash, the voices of six coyotes could be
picked out separately from a chorus of coyote howls which came from
several different directions in the wash.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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