Gray Wolves Have Coyotes On The Run After Decades Of Dominance In Yellowstone Park, Numbers And Packs Drop In Two Years

For more than 60 years, coyotes were the top predators in Yellowstone National Park, facing only marginal competition from mountain lions and other predators.

But in 1995, a species absent from the park for decades was returned.

Since the reappearance of the gray wolf at Yellowstone, the estimated population of coyotes in the park’s northern ranges - areas frequented by wolves - has dropped by half, Yellowstone’s chief wolf-recovery biologist said.

“Before wolves, coyotes were the big dogs on the block,” said Doug Smith. “Now wolves are the big dogs. And they’re swaggering through the Lamar Valley and putting the fear of God in these coyotes.”

Biologists estimate 500 coyotes in 65 packs lived in the park before wolves were reintroduced in early 1995.

The current estimate is about 250 coyotes in 46 packs.

“I’m a bit surprised that this much of a reduction has happened over two years,” said biologist Bob Crabtree of Bozeman, Mont., who has monitored Yellowstone’s coyotes for more than a decade.

“I thought it would take five to 10 years. Wolves are out-and-out killing coyotes in a lot of cases.”

Crabtree said that when a few adult coyotes are killed, the rest of the pack generally disintegrates, and coyotes avoid that geographic area.

He said wolves at first killed few coyotes, but often chased them away from prey.

But this spring, Crabtree said, wolves began aggressively competing against the smaller animals.

Smith and Crabtree said fully explaining the interactions between wolves and coyotes would require more study.

“What it comes down to in the simplest view is that there is too much common ground between wolves and coyotes,” Crabtree said. “And usual coyote behavior is running like hell.”

Crabtree said he believes the situation in the park is reverting to the way it was before wolves in the region were exterminated.

“Coyotes are survivors; they are very adaptable animals,” said Franz Camenzind, a filmmaker and biologist who has studied coyotes extensively. “We’re in the midst of a turbulent ecological process, and it’s going to take years to settle down,” said Camenzind. “Once that happens, then the coyote population can adjust.”

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