The Clean-up Crew
By Isaac Rath and Katie Milesky
Photos by Isaac Rath
When you consider the amount of predators and scavengers in Yellowstone National Park, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that not much goes to waste here. When resources are limited, especially in the winter season, some creatures are forced to take what they can get. If you read my blog post, “Weekend with the Wapitis”, you may remember that in January, we had an incredible opportunity to watch the Wapiti Lake pack hunt a bison over the course of several hours on the banks of the Firehole River. For about 36 hours after the kill, the wolves remained close and fed on the carcass, eventually heading off together and leaving the remains in the river. Not quite sure how it exactly happened, but some animal, I’d assume the wolves, dragged the remainder of the carcass out of the water and to the opposite riverbank. For the next few days, coyotes came and went from the carcass, feeding from the scraps and gnawing on bones. Bald Eagles and Common Ravens were also spotted on the carcass during this week. While the wolves were feeding, these scavengers either patiently lurked in the trees for the wolves to leave, or loudly observed from high in the treetops. The birds had an easier time sneaking in for a bite when the wolves were resting, but if a coyote tried that, the risk of it being their final snack was much higher.
I witnessed up to three coyotes on the carcass at the same time in the days directly after the wolves left. Katie even found two coyotes on it nearly two weeks later, when one would’ve thought there was nothing of value left. Whenever the Ravens were around, they would often mess with the coyotes, trying to get them to leave the carcass to chase them off so another could sneak in for a bite.
These photos here show a mating pair of coyotes that approached a lone coyote feeding on the bison carcass. Just before this, the Ravens had flown off and I had started noticing the lone coyote looking around, seemingly on high alert. Most likely, the loner was infringing on their territory and the couple didn’t like that. One of them rushed at and tried attacking the solo canine. He arched his back, tucked his tail between his legs, and prepared to fight back. After 10 or so minutes of the two coyotes going at each other, the newcomer had an injury to his jaw, the loner got to keep his meal, and the newcomer’s mate hadn’t lifted a paw to help.
