AUTHORS: Adrienne Cohoon, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point; Kayla Allred, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point; Helena Stoflet, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point; Jena Garceau, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point; Dutch Holland, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point; Alyssa Kelnhofer, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point; Samantha Peterson, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point; Advisor: Dr. Chris Yahnke, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point
ABSTRACT: Howling is a stimulated response in canids used to distinguish territory. Species of the Canidae family tend to respond to other species via howling. Our primary target species are the gray wolf (Canis Lupus) and the coyote (Canis latrans). In our study, we compare which canid species would respond to each artificial species call/howl we used. We conduct howl surveys at two different sites, Buena Vista Wildlife Area and Mead Wildlife Area in central Wisconsin. There are three transects at Mead and five at Buena Vista. Each field night, we select our transect through a random generator. At separate points along the transect, each point one mile apart, we alternate between a male gray wolf and a male coyote call using the ICOtec Gen 3 Electronic Predator Game Call. At each of these points along the transect, we play the call for 30 seconds and wait two minutes after the call for a response. We call three times at one location facing 0°, 120°, and 240° respectively. At each point we record the date, location, road name, latitude/longitude, time of response, the species that is responding, compass bearing of the response, estimated distance to the origin of the response, number of adults heard, whether we heard pups, and ambient noises. We analyzed our data using a Chi-squared test to determine significant differences in response rates between species.
