#activity patterns

[easterncoyoteenthusiast]

Attitudes Towards Coyotes

Coywolves can live successfully in a variety of habitats (for related information, see my post on range/diet). The primary sources of mortality in the majority of these environments are anthropogenic (i.e., trapping, shooting, car accidents, and poisoning). Poisoning remained a widespread method of predator eradication until 1972, when its use on federal lands was banned in the United States; the use of household rodenticides is, however, still allowed.

Though a portion of the general public has become sympathetic towards these animals in recent years [1-2], deliberate killings still occur on city margins. An example of this was discovered during a 2005 study of a pack of coyotes in eastern Massachusetts [3]. Activity and movement patterns in this study were typical; the coyotes did not kill local pets or physically endanger citizens, but rather increased their nocturnal behavior to avoid people and displayed territorial behavior towards transient individuals. Even so, sightings of the individuals in this pack—Maeve, Jet, and Cour—led to some upset.

All three individuals were found dead during the study; in each case, the cause of death was ruled an anticoagulant pesticide (Brodifacoum, a second-generation poison and active ingredient in some forms of rat poison). Because all three displayed no abnormal behavior in the week leading up to their deaths and all died in less than a week, it is likely that, rather than having eaten poisoned prey, they were purposefully dosed at high concentrations.

Public support for the lethal management of carnivores has noticeably declined over time. Jackman and Way surveyed Cape Cod voters to examine “knowledge of and attitudes toward current coyote hunting policies and practices in Massachusetts” [1, p. 188]. Knowledge was largely limited, with only 40% being aware that Massachusetts has a hunting season for coyotes and 14% being aware that there are no bag limits—meaning a hunter can kill as many coyotes as they want. Responses to the survey indicated that only 23% supported the no-bag limits; the “only group to include majority support (62%)” [1, p. 190] comprised frequent hunters, who represented only a small percentage of the sampled public.

Anyone wishing to determine shifts in attitude towards and/or awareness of coywolves should consider the use of surveys à la Jackman and Way [1]. I wanted to incorporate a survey to determine whether residents of Massachusetts and Pennsylvania (where I am currently based) had noticeably different stances, but I did not give myself enough time to get IRB approval and properly analyze data. I would also recommend a potential partnership with an ecologist and/or biologist. Because I am an anthropologist and have little background in those fields, I was therefore somewhat limited in my view/understanding.

References:

[1] Jackman, J.L. & Way, J.G. (2017). Once I found out: Awareness of and attitudes toward coyote hunting policies in Massachusetts. Human Dimensions of Wildlife, 23(2), 187-195. https://doi.org/10.1080/10871209.2017.1397824

[2] Way, J.G. (2021). Coywolf: Eastern coyote genetics, ecology, management, and politics. Eastern Coyote/Coywolf Research, Barnstable, Massachusetts. www.easterncoyoteresearch.com/Coywolf/

[3] Way, J.G., Cifuni, S.M., Eatough, D.L., & Strauss, E.G. (2006). Rat poison kills a pack of eastern coyotes, Canis latrans, in an urban area. Canadian Field Naturalist, 120(4), 478-480.

TL;DR:

Coywolf mortality is largely anthropogenic

Attitudes towards coywolves have improved over time

Massachusetts and Pennsylvania have no bag limits on coyotes; Pennsylvania has no set hunting season

Hybridization | DNA Analyses | Range & Diet | Behavior & Ecology | Conservation | The Anthropocene

[wonder-and-wildflowers]

Dazai canonically rambling about his loved ones at every possible opportunity is so dear to me.

Mori knew a lot of the things he did about Oda because Dazai told him. Akutagawa also knew about Oda and how important he is to Dazai because of Dazai's ramblings. Random, unnamed PM members know about Oda being very dear to Dazai, because Dazai praises him and talks about how great he is.

Chuuya knew straight away that Dazai had been speaking about him to the ADA. It wasn't something he expressed feeling betrayed or suprised about. It was just an immediate understanding that of all the ways they could probably have known about him and his ability despite it being confidential information in the PM, Dazai's ramblings were most likely the reason.

The way that Dazai speaks about Ranpo to quite literally anyone who will listen. To Fydor, to random cops, to Atsushi.

Dazai canonically brags about the people he cares about in an 'omg omg omg my person my people I love them look how amazing they are' way.

[electoons]

doctor does a brain scan on me and all that shows up on the MRI screen is the Elijah Wood Do You Wear Wigs interview

[ezdotjpg]

if I had a nickel for every time a beloved piece of franchise media that I felt really captured something special was followed up by a sequel that’s grander in scale but utterly devoid of or even antithetical to the themes of its predecessor. I would have 3 nickels. and that’s enough to write a whole video essay.

[hellonearthtoday]

yeah. you have to watch us kill another guy, ponyboy. no you can't close your eyes. you have to watch. yeah. sorry

anyway something something that one trend w your two comfort characters. I don't like either of them but I'm stuck with them I guess. nightmare blunt rotation only bwcause ctommy would eat the blunt and Ponyboy would die

note: pb is on a stool because ctommy is 6'2 . god bless

[reds-skull]

Me: damn I feel like painting Soap rn

Me an hour later: but what if I completely fuck him up tho

(inspired by this painting by Zack Zdrale)

[spyres]

i genuinely think people putting isat down to one-note fandom tropes either are so unused to media getting them to think outside of those tropes, or they actively don't want to think outside of them because it's easier to digest or whatever. it's not even like you have to look far or spend hours analyzing every line of text to see that, you just actively do not want to see it. it is just straight up a wrong interpretation to call isbeau a himbo or call odile the mom friend or assign traditional family dynamics to the saviours when the game is explicitly against all of these tropes.

[ansonmountdaily]

Anson Mount working on pit fire pottery in his workshop

Some highlights of Anson unveiling his latest pottery pieces on Instagram. Making clay pottery (mugs, bowls, vases, etc) is one of Anson's hobbies! The specific type of pottery produced is called earthenware.

"This is not a regular kiln opening, this is gonna be an opening of a barrel fire. Many of you probably heard of pit fire pottery and it's exactly what it sounds like; it's when you dig a pit, you build a fire in the pit, you put the pottery in there with a bunch of botanicals and chemicals, and you cover it up and let the fire do the work. We talked a lot about chaos in the process last time. This is one of the more chaotic processes that you can do with pottery because you just have absolutely no idea what the fire is gonna do." - Anson Mount

Source: Anson Mount Official Instagram May 24 2023 + clips from May 20 2023 and May 18 2023

[shesmore-shoebill]

this episode really feels like them just hanging out and bonding while there happens to be a camera present. and a nerf dart martini

[easterncoyoteenthusiast]

Behavior & Ecology: Activity/Movement Patterns & Territory

The risk of interspecific predation is, by definition, absent for apex predators living within a natural system. Once that system has been significantly and anthropogenically altered, this will not always remain the case. Various studies [1-2] have determined that apex predators are capable of perceiving and responding to anthropogenic risks and will do so in ways akin to those exhibited by natural prey species. Like other canid species, coywolves will exhibit altered activity patterns, shifting away from areas and/or times of increased human presence [3-6], therefore decreasing the risk of potentially lethal encounters with people.

Activity patterns—ranging from movement to foraging to grooming [4]—allow an animal to efficiently exploit its environment while minimizing risk and are influenced by a variety of environmental and individual factors [3]. Movement patterns are a subset of activity patterns and significantly impact home range and territory sizes, habitat utilization, and population density [7].

In altering these patterns, coywolves have increased their odds of successfully living alongside humans. Studies of their activity and movement patterns throughout various (sub)urban areas show little to no diurnal movement, moderate amounts of crepuscular activity, and high rates of nocturnal activity [4-8]. High rates of diurnal activity are only typical of populations that either (1) live farther from humans or (2) face lower rates of persecution [3-6].

In forested and largely undisturbed areas, for example, activity is usually spread equally throughout the day [4-5]. Possible explanations for this include differences in the availability of cover, prey activity patterns, and human-coyote interactions. It may be that these differences are also reflective of sex differences in mate search and parental activities. Males have been found to travel the farthest, and their mean daily distances are markedly greater than those of females, especially during the breeding season [4-6]. This increase in movement has been attributed to either (1) unpaired male coyotes traveling farther to find receptive mates or (2) increased territoriality.

Home range and territory are synonymous. While the first refers to an area regularly visited in search of food or mates, the latter expands on the definition by implying a level of protectiveness against outsiders—in other words, they become territorial. Most wild canids exhibit a high level of territoriality, so most of their home range will also be their territory. In coywolves, this will equate to between 5 and 10 square miles (12.9–25.9 km^2) in (sub)urban areas and 15-20 square miles (38.8–51.8 km^2) in rural areas [5]. Because they can travel long distances quickly (usually 10-15 mi [16.1–24.1 km] per day) [5; 4, 6-7], they may be located anywhere within their home range at any given time.

Because "older, well-established individuals effectively guard considerably larger areas from other packs" [5, p. 83], coywolves as a whole are likely to stabilize—or even decrease—their own numbers without the aid of hunting and trapping measures. The typical pack size falls between 3 and 5 members, consisting of the breeding pair and their offspring [5]. It is common for people to overestimate the size of a pack; when howling, changes in intonation, pitch, and volume can easily make a pack of 3 sound like a pack of 10 [5].

References:

[1] Brook, L.A., Johnson, C.N., & Ritchie, E.G. (2012). Effects of predator control on behavior of an apex predator and indirect consequences for mesopredator suppression. Journal of Applied Ecology, 49(6), 1278-1286. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2664.2012.02207.x

[2] Hertel, A.G., Zedrosser, A., Mysterud, A., Stoen, O.G., Steyaert, S.M.J.G., & Swenson, J.E. (2016). Temporal effects of hunting on foraging behavior of an apex predator: Do bears forego foraging when risk is high? Oecologia, 182, 1019-1029. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-016-3729-8

[3] Kitchen, A.M., Gese, E.M., & Schauster, E.R. (2000). Changes in coyote activity patterns due to reduced exposure to human persecution. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 78(5), 853-857. https://doi.org/10.1139/z00-003

[4] Patterson, B.R., Bondrup-Nielsen, S., & Messier, F. (1999). Activity patterns and daily movements of the eastern coyote, Canis latrans, in Nova Scotia. Canadian Field Naturalist, 113(2), 251-257. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285966455

[5] Way, J.G. (2021). Coywolf: Eastern coyote genetics, ecology, management, and politics. Eastern Coyote/Coywolf Research, Barnstable, Massachusetts. www.easterncoyoteresearch.com/Coywolf/

[6] Way, J.G., Ortega, I.M., & Strauss, E.G. (2004). Movement and activity patterns of eastern coyotes in a coastal, suburban environment. Northeastern Naturalist, 11(3), 237-254. www.jstor.org/stable/3858416

[7] Way, J.G. (2011). Eastern coyote/coywolf (Canis latrans x lycaon) movement patterns: Lessons learned in urbanized ecosystems. Cities and the Environment (CATE), 4(1), Article 2. https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/cate/vol4/iss1/2

[8] Way, J.G., Cifuni, S.M., Eatough, D.L., & Strauss, E.G. (2006). Rat poison kills a pack of eastern coyotes, Canis latrans, in an urban area. Canadian Field Naturalist, 120(4), 478-480.

Photo credit:

Way, J.G., Ortega, I.M., & Strauss, E.G. (2004). Graphs of activity patterns for coyotes on Cape Cod, MA, between June 1998-May 2000 [digital photograph]. Accessed 09 April 2023, www.jstor.org/stable/3858416, pp. 244-245.

TL;DR:

To decrease potentially lethal encounters with humans, coywolves will become primarily nocturnal

In undisturbed and forested areas, coywolves are more active throughout the day

Coywolves regulate their own numbers within a given area

A pack of coywolves (averaging 3-5 members) can easily sound larger than it is because of pitch, intonation, and volume changes while howling

Hybridization | DNA Analyses | Range & Diet | Attitudes | Conservation | The Anthropocene

[redbean-nom]

Bacara's horrible Fullfall ensemble

inspired by @thefoundationproject, @lumateranlibrarian, and @evilkillerpoptarts!

[latenightsundayblues]

Dogboy stu here, dogboy stu there, how about some HYENAboy stu for a little bit of variety (this idea wouldn't leave my head until I finally doodled it real quick) ((this is my first time ever touching a furry art style and it is BLATANT))

Yeah, Billy's still a cat. Once a catboy always a catboy.

[wlw-webcomic-bracket]

Am I aware that adderall can’t do its job if I don’t get enough sleep?

Have I utterly failed to make use of this knowledge?

Am I, an entire adult with a wife and a salary, hoping “you wouldn’t want to disappoint HP, would you?” is the thing that finally motivates me to go to bed before two in the morning?

The answers to these questions will probably not surprise you!

[v-toast]

twilight princess link's house ! wii / wii u hero mode version (gamecube / wii u normal mode version is mirrored)

feel free to use as reference and save if you want, but don't remove the credit/watermark :]

fun facts i learnt while mapping this out:

1. this house has a skylight ! and its not even half covered by branches and leaves. this man's house is RUINED every time it rains

2. he has a wrap and sash/obi hanging on a decorative line that are in the same pattern and fabric as colin's ! so either colin keeps his spare (duplicate..) clothes in link's house, or link has a matching outfit

3. link has one mirror in his house, and it's in a corner in the basement (B1), and your reflection can only be seen when you're carrying a lamp and walking directly up to it (that's very out of the way for a mirror...)

4. the wall mount on F1 holds a big pitchfork, and what seems to be a whip wrapped around it ?

this was super fun and took way too many braincells out of me lol

[star-trekster]

DATA🌟

[focsle]

The only small talk I get disproportionately annoyed at and have to like, swallow my fury and be polite because I know it’s just small talk, is when people complain about winter lasting too long when we get winter weather (snow) in late Feb.

It was 50 degrees all December, winter didn’t happen at all, don’t give me any of that shit, marked seasonal change is supposed to happen here. Let me have this.