Predator odors often repel prey species. In the present experiments, we investigated whether changes in the diet of a predator, the coyote (Canis latrans) would affect the repellency of its urine. Furthermore, because predator odors have a high sulfur content, reflecting large amounts of meat in the diet, we investigated the contribution of sulfurous odors to repellency. Our results were consistent with the hypothesis that diet composition and sulfurous metabolites of meat digestion are important for the repellency of predator odors to potential prey.

Passive integrated transponder (PIT) tags were injected into 22 largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) brood fish to determine the retention rate of the tags, the effect on spawning success, and the utility of the tags as a means of individual fish identification. Fish were evaluated 12, 17, and 24 months after implantation. All tags were retained and all tagged fish were recognized. Tag injection and retention had no discernible effect on spawning success.

Consumption of food by Aplodontia rufa from bowls scented with control odors, secretion from anal glands of minks (Mustela vison), or urine from minks, bobcats (Felis rufus), and coyotes (Canis latrans) was studied. In two--choice control tests, subjects indiscriminately consumed apple from unsceuted bowls and from bowls scented with urine from an unfamiliar herbivore (Cavia porcel/us), or with butyric acid. During two-choice tests offering apple from bowls scented with secretion from anal glands of minks and from bowls scented with butyric acid, significantly less apple was consumed from bowls containing mink scent. In two~choice tests in which apple was offered from bowls scented with urine from either mink, bobcat, coyote, or domestic dog, all predator urines reduced feeding. Habituation was studied by measuring consumption of dry pellets during continuous exposure to coyote urine for 5 days. Significantly less chow was consumed from bowls scented with coyote urine than from control bowls, indicating a lack of habituation to the predator scent. We conclude that predator scents act as natural repellents. The responsiveness to scents from several sympatric predators as well as from domestic dogs suggest an innate reaction to a signal, which is common to carnivores. The utility of predator scents in the control of browsing damage by mountain beavers should be explored.