Food item use by coyote sex and age classes

Food item use by coyotes was compared between sexes and among age classes at the Naval Petroleum Reserves, California. Item use did not differ significantly between males and females. Although leporid was the item most frequently used by all age classes, item use differed significantly between pups (< 1 year), yearlings (1 year), and adults (> 1 year), probably due to differential use of secondary items. Variation in item use among age classes could potentially bias results of coyote food habit studies