Eating the Competition

Some carnivores eat, if they can, other carnivores in their home range. Cheetahs in Africa are the target of predation by lions and hyenas; this contributes to the precarious status of cheetah populations. When a carnivore consumes another carnivore it both obtains food and eliminates a competitor. One important implication of these observations is that links in food webs may often include carnivore-carnivore consumption, as well as consumption of herbivores by carnivores. Carnivorous house pets, domestic dogs and cats, often become victims of wild carnivores, such as coyotes and mountain lions, in suburban areas; these pets are particularly vulnerable as they lost much of their self-defense ability in the domestication process.

Wolves, Canis lupus, were absent from the Yellowstone ecosystem for over half a century. During their absence coyotes, Canis latrans, expanded their dietary range to include larger animals, such as deer, which formerly were preyed upon by wolves. The reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone in the 1990's brought these two carnivore species back together. While the two species co-exist in many habitats, wolves prey upon coyotes, given the opportunity. After the wolf reintroduction, coyote diet preferences shifted back to smaller prey, probably as a result of competitive pressure from the wolves.

While members of the genus Canis--wolves, coyotes and dogs--can mate between species and produce hybrid offspring, predation, rather than mating, seems to be the more likely result of interspecific encounters.

Arjo WM, Pletscher DH 1999 Behavioral responses of coyotes to wolf recolonization in northwestern Montana Can. J. Zool. 77 (12): 1919-1927

Durant SM 2000 Living with the enemy: avoidance of hyenas and lions by cheetahs in the Serengeti Behav. Ecol. 11 (6): 624-632

Durant SM 2000Predator avoidance, breeding experience and reproductive success in endangered cheetahs, Acinonyx jubatus Anim. Behav. 60: 121-130

Gese EM 2001 Territorial defense by coyotes (Canis latrans) in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming: who, how, where, when, and why
Can. J. Zool. 79 (6): 980-987

Smith DW, Murphy KM, Monger S 2001 Killing of a Bison, Bison bison, calf by a Wolf, Canis lupus, and four Coyotes,Canis latrans, in Yellowstone National Park Can. Field Nat. 115 (2): 343-345

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copyright ©2002 Michael D. Breed, all rights reserved