USE OF FOOD ITEMS BY SEX AND AGE CLASSES OF COYOTES

Food use by coyotes, Canis latrans, was compared between sexes and amo ng age classes at the Naval petroleum Reserves in California. Frequenc y of occurrence of items did not differ significantly between males an d females. Although leporids were the food most frequently used by all age classes, item use differed significantly between pups (<1 yr), ye arlings (1 yr), and adults (>1 yr), probably because of differential u se of secondary items. Variation in food use among age classes could p otentially bias results of coyote diet studies.