We have 5 acres of alpine meadow dotted with ponderosa pines and bristle cones, there is a local female fox who comes into the yard all the time at 2am and screams her shrieky little scream [ see examples here]. The other day I was chopping wood around 6pm - it was dark - and I noticed the dogs [puppy siberian husky\border collie mix and beagle mix] were not around. That was unusual. So I walked down into the lower pasture with my head-lamp blazing the way before me. I rounded the corner and saw what I can only say is something very odd. The Husky\Border mix was standing right next to the fox, sniffing her fur while the other dog was standing 20 feet away just staring dumbfounded at the two. As soon as my head lamp hit the situation the fox took off, and jumped over our 5-ft fence and trotted into the neighbors yard. I walked over to the fence and looked at her, she was standing there looking right back at me…kinda cool, kinda eery, I was wondering is she was tame or what…
Fast forward to last night. It was 2am and the Shrieky scream came from the back porch and both dogs took off through the dog door and ran after the fox. I got up to make sure it wasn’t a mountain lion or anything and put my head lamp on and walked onto the porch. And sure enough, there she was in all her red glory, a huge female fox. So I called the dogs back onto the porch and shut the porch gate and went back to bed, that way the dogs could stay on the porch but not bolt into the pasture.
Couple minutes later she started shrieking again and it continued for about half an hour. Then it stopped and around an hour later, another shrieky kind of call, but this one was different but very close to the fox. I again got up because now the dogs were barking again, and what I saw when I got out onto the porch was amazing. There in the middle of the pasture was a small female [?] coyote, making this very interesting little scream…just like the fox. Then I shone my light up to the fence and standing there were 6 sets of green eyes staring back at me.
In my experience this is a way for coyotes to lure dogs, they send a female to play with a pup then the pack descends and eats the poor dog. But this coyote was making noise, she was mimicking the fox, trying to get our pups off the porch and onto the pasture. I have never seen this before, I love nature with all of it’s oddities, but this was truly amazing to see.
For the factual answer, do coyote packs mimic other predators like the red fox? Or do they just sound so similar it’s nearly the same. Also it was not a distress call, she was just standing there calling…
Yes and no. I watched this particular female fox have a litter of 4 kits [ see hereand here] over the spring. They have all since left but she sticks around. She is quite habituated to us.
Coyotes do funny things. They’re spooky-intelligent, very adaptable, excellent survivors. Trying to figure them out is like trying to psychoanalyze a cat. I wouldn’t put it past one to mimic a fox, or it might have just been similarities in species behavior. That’s kind of odd behavior for a fox too…wonder if she might have been in heat and looking for a lover. It’s certainly not unheard of for dogs to mate with foxes or coyotes.
SS
Maybe the coyotes were trying to lure the foxes? I love dogs but domestication has bred the common sense out of a lot of them. I realized that after my dog got skunked three times in one summer. I mean it’s a skunk for goodness sake, how hard is it to recognize a skunk and leave the thing alone
Well, factually, the Beagle Mix is not too smart, but knows not to go near a fox…and plus, the Husky\Border mix is a puppy. Only 7-mos - perhaps the fox was a cougar? :dubious:
Heh, I remember those days… just on the cusp of adulthood, and some wild, exotic creature makes herself available. Can’t blame him for wanting a taste.
This “tame” behavior seems to be characteristic of red foxes, in my experience. Where other animals run away at the sight of man, foxes often ignore them or tolerate their presence.
