Coyote urine marking

FIGURE 6.9 A signature urine mark (left center) on a snow bank made by a coyote. To the right, the animal has defecated, pawed, and partially covered the feces with snow. (Photograph D. Miiller-Schwarze.)... 

Coyote Canis latrans Urine marks RLU Bowen, 1978... 

In coyotes, C. latrans, SQTJ by females is associated with acquisition and possession of food, and the denning season (Wells and Bekoff, 1981). Red foxes, Y. vulpes, urine mark a buried food cache at each visit the more depleted it is, the more urine odor has accumulated, amounting to book-keeping (Henry, 1980). Foxes urine mark inedible food remains on repeated visits. This no-food-left signal, in turn, decreases the foxes interest, and they investigate the site very little (Henry, 1980). Here, an animal may chemo-communicate with itself about food. Wolves, C. lupus, also urine mark their food caches (Harrington, 1981). 

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