Food of Bobcats and Coyotes from Cumberland Island, Camden County, Georgia
Georgia Journal of Science
Food of Bobcats and Coyotes from Cumberland Island, Camden County, Georgia
John O. Whitaker Jr. 0
0 Indiana State University , USA
-
Article 2
FOOD OF BOBCATS AND COYOTES FROM CUMBERLAND
ISLAND, CAMDEN COUNTY, GEORGIA
1Department of Biology, Indiana State University, Terre Haute, IN 47809
2Cumberland Island Museum, P. O. Box 7080, St. Marys, GA 31558
*Corresponding author; e-mail:
prey ranging from 19% to 50% of estimated prey biomass in six survey periods.
Cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus) and gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) were
also very important foods. Raccoons (Procyon lotor), birds, cotton mice
(Peromyscus gossypinus), and feral hogs also were occasionally eaten. Nelms (
7, 8
)
performed follow-up studies a decade later, using the same methods. Marsh
rabbits were again a major prey species, with feral hogs, cotton mice, gray squirrels,
deer, and raccoons also commonly taken. Bobcats on Cumberland Island
occasionally preyed on eggs of the American oystercatcher Haematopus palliatus
(9). The decline in consumption of marsh rabbit and deer between the 1988-90
study of Baker et al. (
5
) and the 1997-98 study by Nelms (
7
), and the increase
in consumption of other species, was significant in all seasons (
8
).
Bobcats in longleaf pine habitat in Baker County, Georgia (
10
) fed most
frequently in all seasons on rodents, which occurred in 91% of 135 scats
collected throughout the year. Cotton rats accounted for 70% of rodent prey and
mice 20%. Birds were the second most common prey but occurred in only 14%
of scats. Godbois et al. (
10
) were particularly interested in predation on
northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus), but that species made up only 10% of the
bird remains in the scats. Other prey occurred in 12% of scats; these included
nine-banded armadillo (Dasypus novemcinctus), opossum (Didelphis
virginiana), snake, raccoon, striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis), and vegetation.
Wassmer et al. (
11
) examined 146 bobcat scats from the Archbold
Biological Station in central Florida, collected throughout the year. Mammals, primarily
eastern cottontails (Sylvilagus floridanus) and marsh rabbits, dominated the
diet. Together with cotton rats, these major prey species were less important in
summer than in other seasons, being replaced by a variety of small mammals.
Deer were not found in these samples. Birds, mostly unidentified, were 10.1%
of the prey items and only 1% of the biomass.
Maehr and Brady (
12
) studied the food of bobcats in Florida. The most
important foods were cotton rats and rabbits. However, there was a significant
decrease in cotton rats one year, and other prey types except rabbits increased.
Previous studies of southeastern coyote food
Thornton et al. (
13
) examined 86 coyote scats from south-central Florida,
where coyotes have arrived relatively recently. The remains of ungulates,
including white-tailed deer (of which at least 34% were fawns), domestic cow, and wild
hog, were found in 50% of all scats and were common in all seasons. Rabbit
remains (Sylvilagus spp.) occurred in 31.4% of the scats and rodents (mostly
cotton rats) in 18.7%. The fruit of saw palmetto (Serenoa repens) was found in
23.3% of all scats, but only between June and November.
Stratman and Pelton (
14
) collected 166 coyote scats from Eglin Air Force
Base in northwestern Florida and found plants were a remarkable 81% of the
volume. Fruits of smilax accounted for 68% of scat volume in spring;
blackberries and blueberries 83% in summer; saw palmetto and blueberries 40% in early
fall, with persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) accounting for another 30%; and
saw palmetto 64% in late fall. Whereas deer and hogs together supplied 25% of
the volume of the rather small spring sample (n=8), vertebrates did not exceed
10% of the diet in any other season. Invertebrates, mostly beetles, accounted for
5, 11, 10, and 2% of the diet in the four seasons, respectively.
Lee and Kennedy (
15
) examined coyote stomachs from Tennessee, mostly
from the western part of the state. Rodents were eaten by 39.2% of the 262
individuals, persimmons by 32.4%, rabbits by 28.8%, other vegetation by 26.1%,
deer by 27.0%, and grass by 20.7%. The rodents most commonly eaten were
cotton rats, deer mice (Peromyscus spp.), and voles (Microtus spp.). As most
of these coyotes were taken in fall and winter, the deer remains found in their
stomachs may have represented scavenging on wounded or field-dressed deer.
Younger coyotes more often ate persimmons. Foods of lesser importance
included livestock (16.7%), insects (12.6%), nongame birds (10.8%), game birds
(4.5%), and, at very low frequencies, reptiles, amphibians, shrews, and
opossums.
Foods in 64 coyote scats from the 5-county Albemarle Peninsula of eastern
North Carolina (
16
), where red wolves (Canis rufus) were introduced, included
small rodents (23.3% volume), rabbits (Sylvilagus sp., 28.4%), white-tailed deer
(24.8% volume), ot (...truncated)