Jay A. Kolbe 1 and John R. Squires, United States Forest Service. Rocky Mountain Research Station. Box 8089
Missoula, Montana 59807
Long Distance Movement by a Coyote within the Rocky Mountains
Abstract
Vv'e documented a long distance movement of a juvenile male coyote (Cunis fatmns) between February 2002 and February 2003.
The radiocollared coyote. last located in \Veq central Montana, U.S.A. traveled :;::.:310 kmto southwe~tern Alberta, Canada. where
it wa~ trapped. Thi~ is the longe~t documented movement by a coyote in weqern North America.
A juvenile male coyote (Canis latrans) V./as trapped
and radiocollarcd near Seeley Lake, Montana on
September 16, 200 I as one of 25 animals marked
during a study of coyote-winter ecology. The coyote left the study area November 20,2001 and the
radio signal was lost on February 21, 2002. This
coyote was killed by a fur trapper near Crmvsnest
Pass. Alberta February 2, 2003 after traveling a
straight line distance of ;::::.:310 km from it~ last
recorded location. To our knowledge, this is the
longest documented movement by a coyote in
western North America.
The coyote was captured in a modified Victor
#3 Sotlcatch"'' (Oneida Victor Inc, Ltd,, Euclid,
TABLE J. Lung
di~tance
Although this movement is exceptional for
ViCStern North America, movements of equal or
greater lengths have been documented within the
central plain~ and eastern forest regions (Table I).
Locationa
Source
161
Montana. USA./ Alberta. Can.
Alberta. Can.
Montana. U.S.A.
Idaho. U.S.A.
\1ontana. U.S.A.
Alberta, Can.
California. USA
Montana. USA
W;,'oming. USA.
Kolbe and Squire~ {This article)
Roy and Dorance (1985)
Pyrah (1Y84)
Woodruif and Keller {1982)
R. Crabtree (pers. comm.)
Nelli~ and Keith ( 1976)
Hav.·'thorn (1971)
Robinson and Cummings ( 1951)
Garlough (1940)
544
Manitoba!
323
lowa/Mi~~ouri,
Carbyn and Paquet (1986)
Andre\VS and Boggess ( 1978)
320
342
Ontario. Can.
MaineNermont USA
3t0
58
t52
57
85
155
140
I 85
CentraF
examined. and fitted with a radio collar. It was
uninjured and apparently healthy when released,
The animal remained v.iithin 20 km of the capture
location until late November 2001 when it left
the study area. In February 2003, thi~ male was
trapped in good condition along with a female
coyote; both animals were killed by the trapper
(J. Clarke. Alberta Environment, personal communication).
mo\'emenb by coyotes documented in 1'\orth America.
Movement
Distance (krnl
Region
OH) coilspring trap by a front foot, anesthetized,
Sa~katche\van.
Can.
CSA
Rosatte (20021
Harrison (1992)
Locations listed as "moved from/moved to" where applicabk
"Weq" i~ defined a~ having an initial capture location \ve~t of 110°'\V Longitude
. "Central'' i~ de lined a~ ha\'ing an initial capture location between 90~W and 11 0°\\' Longitude
0
" ··East"
i~
defined as having an initial capture location cast of 90''\V Longitude
Author to whom corre~pomlence
E-mail: jaykolbe@hotmail.com
344
~hould
be addressed.
Northwest Science, VoL 7X, No, 4, 2004
This file was created by scanning the printed publication.
Errors identified by the software have been corrected;
however, some errors may remain.
This coyote was initially captured at an elevation
of 1470m and trapped at an elevation of roughly
1700m. Although the movement path on this male
was not documented. the area between these two
points is mostly mountainous terrain with elevations varying betV·/een 11 OOm to over 31 OOm.
Long-distance movements of coyotes are apparently rare. However, biologists should consider
the maximum regional dispersal distance when
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Received 11 l'v'onwrher 2004
/\ccf'pfedfor Publicarhm -4 Dnember 2004
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Acknowledgements
We thank R. Hendrickson for reporting his capture
of the marked coyote in Alberta. We also thank J.
Clarke of Alberta Environment for his assistance
in documenting the capture location and returning
the collar to us for analysis.
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Coyote Long Distance Movement within Rocky Mountains
345