At what point are young of the year self sufficient?

Curt Barrett

New member
How old are the young of the year typically to be considered able to survive the loss of parent?

Are they sentenced to death by the loss of one of the parental unit at this point?
 
You are going to get a lot of different resposes for this question. I believe they are fine on there own now and have been for a month or 2 depending on where you live. There is a ton of food out there now, and instincts will take care of the rest. Some people say that the parents will "teach" the juveniles how to hunt, i really don't believe this because how do you teach a young coyote how to hunt about 20 different types of animals that they will eat. Each prey animal has to be approched differently, a coyote will not hunt a deer the same way it will chase a rabbit. Instincts will take over. And i don't believe a coyote will not know how to hunt a certain type of animal just because the mother didn't show them how . The coyote population would not be as strong as it is if they only ate prey they have been tought how to. I am sure some people will disagree, which is fine, that's why we are here to discuss these things.
Good luck.
 
The coyote population would not be as strong as it is if they only ate prey they have been tought
You've made a very good point there Nigel that I've never really though about before but wow. Around here they'd definitely all die of starvation come winter because the berzillions of little sage rats that run around cannot be found for several months come cold season and I'm sure that is most of their diet in the summer.
 
Some people say that the parents will "teach" the juveniles how to hunt, i really don't believe this because how do you teach a young coyote how to hunt about 20 different types of animals that they will eat.

I assume you were taught to hunt at some point. Lets say you started hunting with your dad, perhaps first squirrels, then white-tailed deer. Now lets move you away from home and send you to elk country. It may take you some time to figure out the subtleties, but you will probably do OK. After you get an elk or two, you would probably pick up bear hunting even faster. By the time you move on to moose, there isn't much to learn--you know all the fundamentals, and not much new will happen. Nobody taught you to hunt moose, but you may be successful on your first hunt.

Nobody taught you to hunt moose, but they still taught you to hunt. Take a year-old coyote pup that was orphaned and has been eating dogfood and give it a beaver (or anything else that is huntable but challenging). You will probably end up with a coyote that's terrified of beaver, if not brown things in general! Now take a yearling that has hunted mice and birds and such with its mother and give it the same beaver--you will probably end up with a very happy coyote and a very dead beaver.

Could a coyote learn to hunt on its own? I don't know, but I imagine so--in the unlikely event that it didn't starve to death first. There is certainly some instinct there, but learning from Mom and the siblings greatly shortens the learning curve.
 
It depends upon the circumstances. If grasshoppers,etc. are abundant, they probably could survive on their own by three months of age.
This could be followed by gradual transition to small rodents,etc. If the survival was dependent upon capturing adult rabbits or larger prey,pups might be dependent upon their parents for up to 4-6 months. This is from Fred Knowlton wildlife biologist.
 
I think the above post is the most acurate desription of a coyotes early life as we are going to get.
But good point dusty, but the coyotes are not "given" these beavers, and it is a totally different "technique" in hunting beaver compared to a rabbit.I don't think a coyote is going to be afraid of brown things if it has not been tought to hunt large animals. Sure if a beaver happens to be eating grass in the meadow the coyote would attack it. I know in story books all the animals play togther in the field, but in nature this is not the case. They can't hunt a beaver the same way as a rabbit, they would never catch it, and if all they have been "tought" to hunt are rabbits and squirrels, then they would not be such a succesfull predator. Do you think a coyote is not going to try to eat a wounded deer because all that was tought to hunt were rabbits and other small rodents? No way, it could careless if it only grew-up eating bugs and rabbits, it is going to attack that deer, even if it wieghs 100x more than the largest animal it was tought to eat. Do you think the mother also tought them to watchout for rattle snakes? I bet if you put a rattle snake in front of a coyote in an area with no history of rattle snakes the coyote would react the same way as a coyote from an area filled with them.
That would be a heck of a year of hunting to take a bear, moose, elk, squirrel, deer, all in one season. I simply do not believe that coyotes would be thriving like they are if they had to be tought to hunt. Coyotes are too good of hunters to have only learned to hunt from a parent. I believe takes a coyote own expierences for it to learn to hunt well. I also don't believe they can learn the whole art of hunting from another animal. There simply is too much to teach in nature and can't be done in a year or 2.
People love to huminize animals and believe they think in the same way people do, not the case, without insticts they would not live for a day.
Lets keep this discussion as a discussion and not an arguement like we have seen on other debatable topics.
thanks for listening to my bolagna.
 
They can't hunt a beaver the same way as a rabbit, they would never catch it, and if all they have been "tought" to hunt are rabbits and squirrels, then they would not be such a succesfull predator.

My point exactly: they aren't taught to hunt rabbits and squirrels, they are taught to hunt. The two are very different.

Do you think a coyote is not going to try to eat a wounded deer because all that was tought to hunt were rabbits and other small rodents?

_Trying_ to eat a deer is not eating a deer. But yes, there is probably enough instinctual "learning" for them to know that a) deer are potentially food and b) this one, being wounded, is probably easier to kill than most others.

That would be a heck of a year of hunting to take a bear, moose, elk, squirrel, deer, all in one season.

Sounds about right to me! Throw in caribou, maybe a bear of another color, muskox or bison if I manage to get drawn, grouse, ptarmigan, ducks, geese, cranes, furbearers, dipnetting for sockeye, a halibut trip or two, burbot, and whatever I run over and you have my yearly menu!

Coyotes are too good of hunters to have only learned to hunt from a parent. I believe takes a coyote own expierences for it to learn to hunt well. I also don't believe they can learn the whole art of hunting from another animal. There simply is too much to teach in nature and can't be done in a year or 2.

No argument there. They, like you, certainly didn't learn everything they know from parents, and they shouldn't quit learning just because they are out on their own. Learning, for any critter, is a lifelong experience.

If a critter doesn't learn from its parents, the parents should dump the offspring at the first opportunity. Pup survival is fairly low in coyotes, while adult survival is pretty good--Mom has a better chance of surviving to reproduce than does Junior, and she has already proven her potential to reproduce simply by having Junior. Nature (read evolutionary processes) is ruthless and singleminded--passing on genetic material is all any of us are here to do. An animal will not lower its own survivorship by harboring a preventable parasite, which is exactly what young are, without realizing a benefit to the species. The benefit to the species here is that Junior, by hanging around Mom and learning how to hunt, is increasing the likelihood that Mom will have grandpuppies. If most learning was by genetic memory or trial and error (as is the case in most small rodents, for example), Junior would be gone as soon as he is weaned.

I think we are arguing what is basically the same side here. Instinct is important. Trial and error is important. I simply think that, in canids at least, learning by emulating the behavior of more experienced individuals is equally important. It certainly is in wolves--for example, first-year pups seldom if ever kill moose. Coyotes are not wolves by any means, but they are similar in intelligence and their ability to learn. If pups didn't need Mom around to learn from they would be weaned and gone by midsummer.
 
Dusty,
You are probably right that we are both on the same track for the most part. I was just under the impression that you thought coyotes only knew how to hunt because they were tought how to.
i guess the only question is the same as the title of this topic; "WHEN are the pups self-sufficient". I guess that will depend on the area you are in and the food suppy and weather.
Are there a lot of coyotes in Alaska? How is the coyote season managed? Open year around? Just curious.
 
To chime in again--I don't think they are taught at all. Having watched our house cats catch birds and bugs in the back yard without any mentor or teacher when they have plenty of food inside the house. They are predatory animals and have instincts far beyond what we think. Granted they might learn by watching ma or pa but trial and error is the best training of all. Their life revolves around instinct though, not much else. It must be kinda boring, hehehe /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
Nigel: I agree--self-sufficiency probably depends heavily of environment. The further south you go, the earlier I would expect to find independant pups.

Coyotes seem to be fairly new (100 years or less) to Alaska. There are good populations in a big chunk of the state, with records as far north as Anaktuvik Pass (Brooks Range) and anecdotal evidence that they are on the Peninsula. There will never be large populations here as the wolves keep them in check, but I catch a few every year. They are managed like any other furbearer--season is from November to March, no limit--at least in Interior.

M Shaffer: Cats ain't coyotes, and house cats ain't exactly your typical felid. Housecat kittens leave when they are weaned in feral populations--see my post above about the significance of that. Lynx kittens follow their mother around all winter, and I have never caught a lone kitten--which leads me to believe they don't survive if Mom gets killed. I have caught Mom, hung more snares, and got a litter of kittens (usually 4 or 5) when I checked again--they were almost always skinny, and they don't leave the area where Mom got caught. Bobcats, if I remember correctly, are somewhere in the middle--I think the kittens are on their own fairly early in the winter.

Cats probably do have stronger hunting instincts than canids. Cats, as you mention, are obligate carnivores--they don't have the teeth to eat fruits and such, and they can't synthesize lysine, which is an essential amino acid available from protein (meat). Coyotes, and canids in general, are fairly omnivorous.
 
To address the topic; the young of the year, are now self sufficient. They are not doomed to starvation,and are flourishing.
 
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/oa/pubs/fscoyote.pdf

Urban and Suburban Coyotes

...Pups are cared for by both parents and can eat meat and move about well by the time they are a month old. Because food requirements increase dramatically during pup rearing, this is a period when conflicts between humans and urban coyotes are common. By 6 months of age, pups have permanent teeth and are nearly fully grown. About this time, mother coyotes train their offspring to search for food so it is not unusual to observe a family group traveling through parks and golf courses. If food is deliberately or inadvertently provided by people, the youngsters quickly learn not to fear humans and will develop a dependency on easy food sources.

After this training period, usually in October and November, most young disperse and find their own breeding territory, but one or two pups may stay with the parents and become part of the family group.

Although coyotes tend to travel and hunt singly or in pairs, they may form groups as population densities increase or where food is abundant such as in urbanized areas....
 
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