Facts on Bears, Coyote and Mountain Lions
Bear Picture scanned from a NORTH AMERICA WILDLIFE 2010 CALENDAR Information OBTAINED FROM SAME SOURCE
BEAR FACTS-Dental Diary- A bear’s teeth holds a lot of information. They can show a bear’s age and
whether or not is has had cubs. Each year, starting January, the roots of the teeth growths small layer of
bone called cementum. During the warm months, the cementum is white and during the hibernation, a
dark layer growth over the top. This cycle is repeated for life. When a female bear raises a litter of cubs,
the calcium that would normally be used to form the layers of cementum are used instead for milk
production. The layer of cementum that grows that year will be thinner. By looking at a cross section of
a tooth, researchers can tell how old a bear is by counting the layers of cementum. By counting the
thinner layers, they can tell how many litters a female has had. This information is used to study the
health of bear populations.
Facts on Bears, Coyote and Mountain Lions
PUMA Picture scanned from a NORTH AMERICA WILDLIFE 2010 CALENDAR Information OBTAINED FROM SAME SOURCE
CATS FACTS-Big Cats-Puma is one the many names for the cat also known as a mountain lion, cougar or
panther. Its scientific name is felis concolor which means “cat of one color”, referring to its solid coat.
Unlike other wild cats, the puma has many of the same behaviors as a regular domestic cat. Most wild
cats roar but the puma can purr continuously and lacks the ability to roar. This is because it does not
have a special piece of tissue on its larynx (voice box) that gives other cats like the lion this ability.
Pumas are also good jumpers. They can jump 15 feet (4.5 meters) straight up in the air and 40 feet (12
meters) horizontally. They are good at landing on their feet too. Pumas can drop from a height of about
60 feet (18 meters) and instantly turn their downward motion into a full sprint once they hit the ground.
Facts on Bears, Coyote and Mountain Lions
A photo of a coyote taken in Cheseboro Canyon in the Simi Valley. Photo taken by Jared Hughey.
Research on coyotes near Los Angeles http://www.urbancarnivores.com/coyotes/
Use of urban areas
From 1996-2004, the local National Park Service (NPS) biologists studied coyote populations in Thousand
Oaks, Agoura Hills and Calabasas in Los Angeles and Ventura Counties This study involved the capture and
radio-collaring of coyotes. A total of 128 coyotes were captured and sampled during this time.
Coyotes were found to be present and in relatively high densities in almost all of the remaining natural habitat
fragments throughout the study area. Although coyotes will visit the surrounding urban areas, they were found
to prefer spending time in the natural open space. However, many of the remaining fragments around
Thousand Oaks, Agoura Hills and Calabsas are too small to support a family group of coyotes, and therefore
these groups must include multiple fragments within their home range. To use these fragmented patches
coyotes are forced to travel through developed areas, including crossing roadways of various sizes. Some
habitat fragments have become separated by large networks of urbanization so that even residents not on the
edge of natural areas may come into contact with coyotes as they move between these habitat patches.
Facts on Bears, Coyote and Mountain Lions
However most of the coyotes that occur in these patches are rarely seen by the citizens living around them.
They tend to be very secretive, which has allowed them to persist in these urbanized areas.
Howling coyote! Coyotes are well known for their howling songs, often heard at night in both urban and natural areas around the Santa Monica
Mountains. Song is important for communication between coyotes. Photo taken by Jared Hughey.
Diet
As a part of the NPS coyote study (1996-2004), biologists collected scats to identify food use in their study
area. Coyote diet consisted mainly consist of native fruits and small mammals such as rabbits, woodrats, and
mice. These urban coyotes only occasionally utilized human food sources, most predominantly ornamental or
non-native fruits which can constitute up to 25% of their diet. Other items such as trash, pet food and domestic
pets may also be consumed on occasion, but constitutes a very small percentage of coyote diets in the study
area.
Facts on Bears, Coyote and Mountain Lions
Sources of mortality
During the NPS study, one of the most surprising findings was the important sources of mortality for coyotes
in the Santa Monica Mountains. The number one source was vehicle collisions. Roads have important
impacts on wildlife populations. They act as barrier to movement and gene flow, and also as a direct source of
mortality.
The surprising find was not the road mortalities but rather that the next most important source of mortality for
coyotes in the study area are rat poisons. Canids (a.k.a. dog species) are very vulnerable to the effects of
anticoagulant rat poisons, the most commonly used method of rodent control worldwide. Coyotes are likely
secondarily exposed to the poisons meaning that they are consuming the small rodent pest species that people
are targeting with the poisons. These poisons have a delayed action so that once a small mammal eats the
poisons, it can take up to 10 days for them to die. Meanwhile the poisoned small mammals can continue to eat
the poison bait accumulating more than a lethal dose of the poisons in their system. Additionally, they can
continue to move around their natural habitat and as they approach death become easy targets for
predators. To read more about the impacts of these poisons on other species, see the 'Poisons' page.
Human-coyote conflict?
Coyotes are notoriously in southern California for becoming nuisance animals; however serious coyote
conflicts with humans are actually rare. Public reports of nuisance issues range from coyotes being seen during
the day to reports of them preying on domestic cats and attacking domestic dogs. Only in very rarely have
coyotes been accused of biting/attacking a person. During the NPS study, biologists followed 110 urban
coyotes using radio-collars and observed no such human-coyote conflicts (ie., attacking pets or humans). NPS
is currently looking for funding to examine more closely the behavior coyotes in more urban areas, such as
Griffith Park near downtown Los Angeles where coyotes are considered more of a nuisance than in other parts
of Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. The data for the proposed study would be used to identify methods of
dealing with nuisance animals to help reduce conflicts between humans and coyotes.
The behavior of residents neighboring natural areas plays an important role in reducing conflicts with coyotes
and other wildlife. People should never intentionally feed wildlife, and care should also be taken to not
unintentionally feed coyotes as well. Residents should make sure to promptly pick up low hanging and fallen
fruits in their yard, keep trash in a secure container, secure compost piles, feed pets inside, and keep small pets
inside or on a leash near themselves, especially at night. Park visitors should be careful with food wrappers and
left over snack items brought along. They should either make sure all of this goes back home with them, or it is
Facts on Bears, Coyote and Mountain Lions
disposed of properly. Although use of these human food sources is low, once a particular animal learns to
associate humans with food, it may become more aggressive towards people and there will be more potential
for nuisance behavior. If nuisance issues are occurring in your neighborhood try to identify areas of food
availability and work toward removing the food source, which should in turn cause the coyote to quit using the
area where it is being a nuisance. If confronted by a coyote make loud noises and if this fails throw rocks and
act like you are a major threat to the animal by yelling, stomping and throwing things at it. Continue this
behavior until the animal completely leaves the area.
References
*Elbroch, M. and Rinehart, K. 2011. Peterson Reference Guides to Behavior of North American Mammals.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, New York, New York. pp. 374.
Gehrt, S.D. and Riley, S.P.D. 2010. Coyotes (Canis latrans). In: Urban Carnivores (Gehrt, S.D., Riley, S.P.D.,
Cypher, B.L., eds.). John Hopkins University Press. pp. 78-95.
* This resource is most excellent for information on many mammals throughout North America. It is highly
recommended if you are interested in mammal behavior!!!