Coyotes, now common on the Kenai Peninsula, naturally colonized the peninsula in the early 1900s.  They are perhaps the most adaptable carnivore in North America.

Coyotes, now common on the Kenai Peninsula, naturally colonized the peninsula in the early 1900s. They are perhaps the most adaptable carnivore in North America.

Refuge Notebook: Coyotes prove adaptable on the Kenai Peninsula

Coyotes are perhaps the most adaptable carnivore in North America, ranging from the Atlantic to the Pacific coasts and from Central America north to Interior Alaska. They live in remote wilderness areas as well as urban areas, and have been seen in city parks in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

When coyotes began moving north and were first reported on the Kenai Peninsula in the early 1900s, they found the peninsula free of wolves and thus colonized it without having to compete with their larger aggressive cousins. But concern then about the widespread presence of coyotes on the peninsula resulted in bounties placed on coyotes and, combined with the value of their pelts, provided a source of winter income for trappers on the peninsula in the 1930s and 1940s. By the 1960s, wolves from mainland Alaska began to naturally re-colonize the Kenai after having been extirpated for nearly a half-century, only to discover that coyotes had become well established in their absence.

When Dr. Rolf Peterson and Jim Woolington began, and I later joined, the Kenai Peninsula’s first wolf study, radio collars were also fitted on coyotes incidentally-captured from 1976 to 1980 on the Kenai National Moose Range (later to become the Kenai National Wildlife Refuge). At that time coyote home ranges overlapped those of wolves and averaged 40.1 and 27.8 square miles for male and female coyotes, respectively. Coyotes ate primarily snowshoe hares, porcupines and other small mammals. Coyotes were captured more often near public roads than near roads closed to public access likely because of interference competition with wolves. During that study, eight instances of wolves killing coyotes were documented.

Later, from 1987 to 1991, University of Alaska Fairbanks graduate student Win Staples conducted research on coyotes and lynx on the Refuge when the snowshoe hare population was low. He discovered that although coyotes continued to feed on scarce hares, coyotes fed primarily by scavenging carcasses of moose that were often killed by wolves during winter. This behavior often brought coyotes in direct contact with wolves and, as in the earlier study, Staples reported that three of his sixteen radio-collared coyotes whose fates were known had been killed by wolves and four by humans. Thus, given the opportunity, wolves will kill coyotes (but usually do not eat them). Not surprisingly, coyotes learn to avoid wolves but may also become dependent on them for food in the form of moose carcasses.

Staples also reported that coyotes scavenged from the carcass of a moose that was injured when struck by a vehicle and wandered off the road before dying. Coyotes also scavenged on spawned-out salmon carcasses along the Kenai River, and occasionally killed small free-roaming (unpenned) domestic ducks and rabbits, and killed and partially ate two dogs (cocker spaniel and beagle) in the off-refuge, human-developed Sterling Corridor.

In addition to co-existing with wolves on the Refuge, coyotes on the northern peninsula also inhabit areas outside the Refuge seldom used by packs of wolves such as the Sterling Corridor and other human-dominated areas around Soldotna, Kenai and Nikiski and the Kenai River Flats where they are sometimes mistaken for wolves.

Once while radio-tracking wolves from an aircraft, I observed a coyote approaching a pack of wolves unware they were just behind a nearby ridge and thus unseen by the coyote. The wolves immediately pursued the approaching coyote when they first spotted it. However, the fast running coyote outdistanced the wolves which just as quickly abandoned the chase. Had the snow been deeper and the coyote unable to run as swiftly, the outcome may have been different.

Elsewhere, a study of coyotes and wolves in Yellowstone National Park revealed that after wolves were introduced there in 1995, 75 percent of 337 observed wolf-coyote interactions occurred at ungulate carcass sites, and that wolves initiated 85 percent of the encounters, dominating most of the interactions. Wolves chased coyotes without physical contact 79 percent of the time and killed coyotes only during 7 percent of the interactions. Other findings were that wolf-coyote interactions decreased over time, wolves were the dominant canid, and coyotes probably benefit from the access to carrion at wolf-killed carcasses.

Coyotes now live in most habitats in North America including those dominated by humans and among wolves, their most significant natural competitor, but it can be a dangerous life. Fortunately for coyotes, they are one of the nature’s supreme adaptors.

Dr. Ted Bailey is a retired Kenai National Wildlife Refuge wildlife biologist who has lived on the Kenai Peninsula for over 40 years. He maintains a keen interest in our local wildlife and natural history.

More in Life

"Octopus" is an acrylic painting by new co-op member Heather Mann on display at Ptarmigan Arts in Homer, Alaska. Photo provided by Ptarmigan Arts
July First Friday in Homer

Homer’s galleries and public art spaces celebrate with new and ongoing exhibits.

Frank Rowley and his youngest child, Raymond, stand in knee-deep snow in front of the protective fence around the main substation for Mountain View Light & Power in Anchorage in 1948 or ’49. This photo was taken a year or two before Rowley moved to Kenai to begin supplying electrical power to the central peninsula. (Photo courtesy of the Rowley Family)
Let there be light: The electrifying Frank Rowley — Part 2

In July 1946, the soft-spoken Rowley was involved in an incident that for several consecutive days made the front page of the Anchorage Daily Times.

This nostalgic sauce is so shockingly simple, you’ll never buy a bottle again. Photo by Tressa Dale/Peninsula Clarion
America’s favorite culinary representative

The original recipe for ranch dressing was invented and perfected in Alaska, out in the bush in 1949.

Graphics show the nine finalists in three age groups for the Soldotna “I Voted” sticker design contest. (Provided by City of Soldotna)
Soldotna announces finalists for ‘I Voted’ sticker contest

Public voting will be open until July 20 to determine the winners.

Homer’s Cosmic Creature Club performs at the 2024 Concert on the Lawn at Karen Hornaday Park. (Emilie Springer/Homer News file)
July events to provide entertainment and fun on lower Kenai Peninsula

Events include the Highland Games, Concert on the Lawn, local art camps and the Ninilchik Rodeo.

Nick Varney
Unhinged Alaska: Flashback dreams and the cold sweats

When summer arrives, every personage in the known cosmos suddenly seems to remember that they have kindred living in Alaska.

File
Minister’s Message: Freedom is not what you think

If freedom isn’t what we first think it is, what is it?

This is the Kenai Power complex. The long side of the plant faces the Frank Rowley home, seen here at the right side of the photograph. (Photo courtesy of the Rowley Family)
Let there be light: The electrifying Frank Rowley — Part 1

Frank Rowley made one of the most important steps toward modernization in the history of Kenai.

This cake stacks colored crepes for a brilliant rainbow breakfast. (Photo by Tressa Dale/Peninsula Clarion)
Crepes of a different color

This rainbow cake celebrates Pride with layers of colored crepes.

”Thread of Light” is an acrylic painting done this year by Dan Coe on display through June at the Art Shop Gallery in Homer, Alaska. Photo by Christina Whiting
Fine art in invented spaces

Anchor Point artist showcases his skills with exhibit of acrylic paintings.

A variety of peony blooms grow vibrantly on Pioneer Avenue on Thursday, July 25, 2024, in Homer, Alaska. (Delcenia Cosman/Homer News)
6th annual Peony Celebration begins July 1

The festival will run in Homer through Aug. 17.