(December 2017) One of the questions we are interested in studying as part of Project Wild Coshocton is the interaction between two top predators in Ohio: the native bobcat and the non-native coyote. Some previous research has found that coyotes will kill bobcats in their territories to eliminate a competitor (Anderson and Lovallo, 2003), while other research has found that territories for the two species can overlap (Melville et al., 2015). What do our data for Coshocton and southern Holmes counties indicate?
In 2017, we found bobcats at 14 and coyotes at 15 of our 27 field sites. We found both bobcats and coyotes at ten of those sites, indicating that the two predators are often able to coexist. Below are photographs of bobcats and coyotes taken at the same camera site.
References:
Anderson, E.M. & Lovallo, M.J.. 2003. Bobcat and Lynx. Pp. 758-786, In Feldhammer, G.A., Thompson, B.C., & Chapman, J.A. (Eds.). Wild Mammals of North America: Biology, Management, and Conservation. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, MD.
Melville, H.I.A.S., Conway, W.C., Morrison, M.I., Comer, C.E. & Hardin, J.B. (2015). Home-range interactions of three sympatric mesopredators in east Texas. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 93, 547-557.