What's the Deal?
As well as doing my statistical research on gray wolves, I've started field work on two eastern coyotes that live behind the university in the woods/ swamp. This is preliminary work that will hopefully go toward the work I do when I start my PhD in a year or so. I'm going to start posting updates on here, as I'm able. Exact locations will not be disclosed for the safety of the animals. The land on which I study is private, but that wouldn't stop everyone. To study the animals, I use one camera trap (for now; I sometimes also get footage from a professor's trail camera he has behind his house). The rest, I do on my own, walking through the woods and marsh for hours, taking notes and measurements on tracks, scat, bones, anything I can find. I bring all these clues together and make maps to try to pin down better locations for my camera trap, as well as the patterns of the eastern coyotes, gray foxes, white tailed deer, and other animals that call my forest home.
MEET THE ANIMALS
*Current initial pages done: eastern coyotes/coywolves*
I've collected a lot of notes and camera captures of the resident wild animals. Using individual physical characteristics and behavior, I can tell quite a few of them apart. Field work is incredible, as it allows you to discover the personalities, habits, and characteristics that separate animals from within the same species, and use all these clues to tell a story. Scroll down to read more about some of these animals, and click on their names for more information. If the name isn't English, chances are it is Tsalagi/Cherokee to honor both my heritage and the people to whom this land once belonged. NOTE: An asterisk (*) is used for an animal confirmed or presumed deceased (or displaced).
I've collected a lot of notes and camera captures of the resident wild animals. Using individual physical characteristics and behavior, I can tell quite a few of them apart. Field work is incredible, as it allows you to discover the personalities, habits, and characteristics that separate animals from within the same species, and use all these clues to tell a story. Scroll down to read more about some of these animals, and click on their names for more information. If the name isn't English, chances are it is Tsalagi/Cherokee to honor both my heritage and the people to whom this land once belonged. NOTE: An asterisk (*) is used for an animal confirmed or presumed deceased (or displaced).
Why DO I use Names?
As you may know, most scientists use numbers to differentiate individual wild animals they study (although this is by no means a rule, and many researchers I admire do not). Sometimes, this is because it's easy to just number animals when you're studying a lot of them. Sometimes, it's to remove any emotional ties from their subjects.
I choose to use names because, subject or not, these animals have stories. They have births, children, and death. They have specific marking spots they prefer, or certain trees they like the best. The names I choose have meaning for each individual, and some have had a couple names as I've gotten to know the individual better and christened them with a "better" name. In the world of carnivore conservation and coexistence, naming animals is also a great way to get other people to better relate to animals they otherwise would ignore.
I choose to use names because, subject or not, these animals have stories. They have births, children, and death. They have specific marking spots they prefer, or certain trees they like the best. The names I choose have meaning for each individual, and some have had a couple names as I've gotten to know the individual better and christened them with a "better" name. In the world of carnivore conservation and coexistence, naming animals is also a great way to get other people to better relate to animals they otherwise would ignore.
Eastern Coyotes/ Coywolves
These two eastern coyotes/coywolves are my main focus for this study. Currently, there are two of them, a male and a female. They are both extremely intelligent, versatile animals who have run me in circles more times than I can honestly count. My coywolves are larger than the typical western coyote, because they likely have wolf DNA. There is a chance that the male has recent hybridization with a red wolf from the coast, a couple hundred miles away.
GRAY FOXES
Gray foxes are the only American canid that can climb, thanks to their semi-retractable claws. Urbanization has caused their cousin, the red fox, to outsource them in tree-less areas, but in more covered areas with coyote populations, gray foxes use their climbing skills to the advantage. Gray foxes have very little sexual dimorphism- physical differences between sexes- so identifying them has been a bit more difficult. But I've gotten a hand at it, and the foxes are easily my second favorite animals in the forest to watch.
WHITE-TAILED DEER
To put it simply, in the area I study (and most others), North Carolina has a deer population problem. The fact that my forest is protected has ensured that many white-tailed deer make their homes here, despite the fact that most of the water is gross and polluted from before when the area was allowed to re-wild. Obviously, does are very hard to differentiate. Bucks, a bit easier. But like the canines, the deer have their own personalities and stories, and I've been eagerly taking notes and observations to try to tell more of them apart.
GREAT BLUE HERONS
The marsh offers fantastic habitat for great blue herons year-round. I often encounter both of these birds when I check the riverbanks for fresh tracks.
ANIMALS WITHOUT PICTURES
Some animals, I know by sight but don't have any captures from my camera trap or my phone camera. Nonetheless, they are integral parts of my forest and deserve a shout-out.
BEAVER- Hope --> My resident beaver is not a fan of people, which is why his original name was Ebenezer Scrooge. He has a habit of hissing and slapping his tail if you get even remotely close to him. But then, I learned that years ago, the marsh had been full of beavers. People had complained that their dams were eyesores, and eventually animal control was called in. Most of the beavers were killed. Hope remains a survivor, so I decided to rename him. You can hardly blame him for disliking people. He is a very dutiful beaver, and makes his patrol around sunset around his dam. He's also very wary, probably because of the prowling coywolves and the humans that sometimes walk too close to home. RED-TAILED HAWKS- Echo, Warning, and Junior--> I could tell apart Echo and Warning from their distinct calls they make whenever I enter the woods. Warning would go first, near the start of the trail. Somewhere in the distance, I would always here Echo just after. They're likely a mated pair; red-tailed hawks mate for life. They are both extremely efficient hunters, and I've come across Warning multiple times with a squirrel or a bird in her talons. They have a juvenile, Junior, who I've seen a couple times. He is not quite the formidable hunter. One time, he excitedly dove onto a river bank until he discovered that unfortunately, the yummy rat he was poking with his beak was a leaf. |
Header photo credit: Keli Hendricks