Lynx And Coyote Diet And Habitat Relationships During A Low Hare Population On The Kenai Peninsula, Alaska

• Main Author: Staples, Winthrop R., Iii
• Other Authors: Dean, Frederick C.
• Format: Thesis
• Language: unknown
• Published: 1995
• Subjects: Forestry; Ecology; Zoology; Fairbanks; Alaska; Lynx
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/11122/8520

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 1995 Food habits and habitat use of lynx and coyote were compared 1987-1991 on the Kenai Peninsula, Alaska when the snowshoe hare population was low ($<$0.5 hares/ha). During snow seasons, lynx fed primarily on hares (64% total items), whereas coyotes relied heavily on moose carcasses (42% total items). Diet overlap was 42% and hare use overlap was 16%. Habitat use overlap was 92%, but coyotes used roads more than lynx. Both carnivores selected 1947 burn and avoided 1969 burn and large expanses of mature forest. I conclude that there was exploitation competition for food between these predators, because both used the same habitats and hares, a major food, were scarce. The coyote, however, may be using resources that were previously used by red fox, which have been reduced to low levels. Lynx displayed little fear of humans and were vulnerable to shooting incidental to hunting and depredation events.