Fauna Series No. 4

Fauna of the National Parks — No. 4 Ecology of the Coyote in the Yellowstone

CHAPTER VIII:
BIGHORN IN RELATION TO COYOTES

BIGHORN DEATHS

Definite records of five dead bighorn were secured during the winter of 1937—38 and I was told that some had been poached outside the park. The amount of bighorn carrion available for food is relatively small. The following is a record of animals found dead.

February 6, 1938, a young ram, about 3 years old, was discovered on the Gardiner River. When first reported by workmen about January 30, the carcass was lying in a small cave located at the base of a perpendicular clay bank near the water. Pieces of the hide were sent to Dr. Harlow B. Mills at Bozeman, Mont. who reported the presence of mites on all samples. On January 16 I had seen a young ram a short distance from the spot where the dead animal was found, and I have no doubt that it was the same individual. When I saw it alive most of the long hair on one side was missing. The fact that this ram was living alone indicated he was sick and lacked the inclination to travel normally in the company of the others.

On February 10 along Glen Creek below Golden Gate I found the carcass of an old ram which had been dragged off a knoll by a coyote. As the meat was not yet frozen, it had not been dead long. The ram was thin, its teeth were worn to the gums, one molar and two incisors were missing, and one incisor was almost worn through from one side. There was some necrosis around the molars. The animal had apparently died from old age.

On March 1, the bones (excepting the skull) and hair of an old ram were found in a gully along the Gardiner River. The animal had probably died from old age or disease.

On April 5, 1938, the remains of an old ram, which I photographed alive on March 26, were found along the Gardiner River. The photograph (fig. 38) shows its emaciated condition. Principal cause of death was probably age.

On May 9 some hair remains of a sheep were found on the rim of the Yellowstone River near Quartz Creek.

Figure 40— Bighorn in foreground, antelope passing beyond them. Antelope frequent Mount Everts
to feed on sagebrush and, in spring and fall, on green.
March 26, 1938.

To summarize: three of the deaths recorded here were probably due to old age, one to mites, directly or indirectly, and one to an unknown cause.

During the winter of 1938—39 one lamb was killed by a car and two rams were reported illegally shot outside the park boundaries. Other casualties, not reported, no doubt occurred.

Apparently bighorn occasionally lose their footing and are thus accidentally injured. A 3- or 4-year-old ewe found in Flat Creek in Jackson Hole was brought intact to O. J. Murie in Jackson. The animal was very fat. The two men who carried the sheep in declared coyotes had killed it, for one of them had shot a coyote at the still-warm carcass. The entire animal was skinned out. There was not a bullet hole or tooth hole in the skin. There were heavy bloodclots under both jaws (skin not broken), and one thigh was badly bloodclotted. Around the opening in the abdomen where the coyote had been feeding was some dried blood in the hair. Evidently there had been a hole there, and that is where the coyote began to feed. Clearly the animal had fallen, perhaps off a cliff, resulting in these serious bruises and actually puncturing the abdomen. It probably went down to the water, feverish, never got up, and a coyote had promptly found it.

During the winter of 1934—35 Dr. Harlow B. Mills (1937) reported the following losses: Shot illegally by hunters, 8; died from shot wound, 1; pneumonia, 1; accidental (cars), 3; collected for study, 1; unknown, 1.

The dead animals recorded in this section and the records of those suffering from ailments and infirmities in the preceding section show the causes of some of the normal losses suffered by the bighorn population.

Continued >>>

Last Modified: Thurs, Dec 20 2001 10:00:00 pm PDT
http://www.cr.nps.gov/history/online_books/fauna4/fauna8b.htm