NATURAL HISTORY. 



COYOTES ALSO DOPE. 



Railroad Creek Lake, Chelan, Wash. 



Editor Recreation: I notice Mr. E. S. 

 Thompson's query regarding the habit 

 wolves have of rolling in decomposing an- 

 imal matter, and Mr. T. seeks further en- 

 lightenment on this subject. This habit is 

 not confined to wolves alone, but most, if 

 not all, me,mbers of the canine race are more 

 or less addicted to it. I have shot and 

 trapped a number of coyotes in Montana, 

 and have observed many little points that 

 were of interest to me. Among them was 

 the practice alluded to. 



The coyote rolls in carrion and appar- 

 ently enjoys the sensation. I have seen one 

 in the act of doing so. He was doping in 

 the entrails of a dead horse. This coyote 

 had been feeding on the carcass, but se- 

 lected the meat on the under side of the 

 loin for its meal, and then rolled its head, 

 neck, shoulders, and breast in the offal, ex- 

 actly as a dog will disport itself on the 

 grass, after having a bath. What its ob- 

 ject was I never could guess, but always 

 supposed the odor was pleasing to the co- 

 yote. 



Dogs do the same. When with a party 

 of English sportsmen, in the Belt moun- 

 tains, we had a large English retriever, 

 which was very intelligent and companion- 

 able. One evening he came in in the most 

 vile condition imaginable. His black curly 

 coat was covered with filth and showed 

 too clearly, even if the soul stirring odor 

 had not convinced us, where he had been. 

 He was not allowed in or near the house 

 for a week. Even small, carefully kept pet 

 dogs indulge in this luxury when they have 

 the chance; but opportunities are not so 

 plentiful in a, town, or in a thickly inhabited 

 country. On ^he stock ranges, dead ani- 

 mals are plentiful. 



This retriever I have mentioned had no 

 special need to disguise his scent. How 

 then, can his actions be accounted for? I 

 am of the opinion dogs and wolves enjoy 

 the smell of putrid meat and we all know 

 how dogs bury bones and meat until they 

 get " high " and tender. Coyotes do this 

 too, for I found where one had buried a 

 dead lamb. It bore the regular coyote 

 mark — a bite across the neck. 



While writing these items I am wonder- 

 ing whether a fox will indulge in this prac- 

 tice. They were very scarce in the section 

 of Montana I lived in, and opportunities 

 for observing their ways were correspond- 

 ingly so. There is one other animal that 

 does roll in filth, and that is the otter. 



With me now is a hunter and trapper, 

 of 25 years' experience. He has trapped 

 fur bearing animals of all kinds, in the 

 Idaho mountains. He tells me an otter 



will go some distance from the rivers it 

 haunts, if there is a dead and decomposing 

 animal to be found, and will roll and dis- 

 port itself among the entrails, although it 

 will not eat a morsel unless hard pressed 

 with hunger. This man caught a number 

 of otters, in the Salmon river country and, 

 whenever possible, would place rotten 

 meat near the river to attract them. 



Chas. Greenwood. 



I should like to say to Ernest Seton 

 Thompson, in reply to his inquiry in June 

 Recreation, as to the habit of animals 

 rolling in carrion, that I have a Gordon 

 setter which always does this when any 

 carrion is found that is too filthy to eat. 



I first noticed it last winter, when a de- 

 cayed fish was found in the snow. After 

 smelling it the dog rolled on it; and for 

 several days thereafter she would go out of 

 her way to roll where the fish lay, under 

 the snow. Again last spring I found her 

 rolling on the decayed body of a hen. At 

 other times I have discovered traces of 

 filth on her back, which proved that this is 

 a habit with her, and that the habit is not 

 confined entirely to wolves. 



I should like to hear an explanation, ana 

 to learn a way to stop the dog of thus pol- 

 luting herself. G. H. R., Necedah, Wis. 



I notice in this month's Recreation, 

 Mr. Ernest Seton Thompson's query as to 

 whether any of the readers of Recreation 

 have noticed the habit wolves have of roll- 

 ing in carrion that they would not deign 

 to eat. This trait of the wolf never came 

 under my observation; but I have owned 

 several English and Irish setters that had 

 adopted that manner of perfuming them- 

 selves, whenever they could find the per- 

 fumery. The reason for such action never 

 occurred to me until I ran across Mr. 

 Thompson's article. I have owned dogs of 

 various other breeds, but have never seen 

 any of them scent themselves in this ob- 

 noxious fashion. I would be pleased to 

 hear from others, through the columns of 

 Recreation, in regard to this peculiarity. 

 K. H. Cressman, Leech, Minn. 



I notice in your June number an inquiry 

 by Mr. Thompson as to the reason for 

 wolves rolling in carrion. His suggestion 

 that wolves do this to overcome the odor 

 natural to them, in order to make it easier 

 to avoid causing fear to other animals, 

 seems rather far-fetched. It is undoubted- 

 ly a habit belonging to the dog tribe, as 

 dogs almost invariably roll in the carcass 

 of a dead, animal. I cannot say they use all 

 dead animals thus, as I have observed it 

 only in the case of cattle, whose carcasses 

 are common in the cattle region, and are 



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