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Let's Play Brookline Food Chain!

Remember how a few weeks ago I noted that wild turkeys were chasing after Brookline residents? Well, today's Brookline TAB now reports that there are also coyotes in town. And despite the fact that the coyotes have gone after residents' dogs, it appears as if they may also be helping solve the turkey problem:


The reports of coyotes come on the heels of residents in the Chestnut Hill area complaining about being harassed by wild turkeys. Recently, there have been reports of coyotes attacking the turkeys.


Aha! Take that, you turkeys!

Which leads me to ask the inevitable question: what eats coyotes? The only answer I've come across is wolves, and I don't think Brookline wants to resort to wolves as the solution to our coyote problem.
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Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 at 07:55 am | | Leave a comment | Add to Memories | Tell a Friend

Comments


[info]jesshartley

Elephants?

That could be fun!
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 01:06 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]mabfan

I suppose if we wanted an animal that stomped coyotes, elephants would be a good bet. But I bet we'd lose a lot of cars in the process...
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 01:12 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]jesshartley

Well, doesn't Boston have an overcrowding problem, car-wise?


See, two problems solved with one solution!

Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 01:31 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]mabfan

And then I'll have plenty of spaces in which to park my elephant!
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 01:36 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]jesshartley

Woot!
Howdas for everyone!
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 02:12 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

(Anonymous)

Mountain lions.


STEVE O.
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 01:10 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]mabfan

Just what the Boston area needs -- more mountain lions!
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 01:12 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]cogitationitis

Recently, I've heard bobcats are returning to New England.

Coyotes are top-level predators, and have few natural enemies (beyond man). Population control is mostly Malthusian--no food, no coyotes.
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 01:22 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]mabfan

So once the coyotes eat the turkeys, there'll be no more turkeys and the coyotes will die off?

Perhaps the coyotes will fall asleep due to the tryptophan. Then the mountain lions can get them.
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 01:25 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]angwantibo

Mountain lions are now extinct or nearly extinct in New England, sorry to say.
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 03:01 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]magid

The novel Prodigal Summer (Barbara Kingsolver) deals with this.
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 02:28 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]somehedgehog

True, they have few natural enemies in the "get eaten" sense, but they used to face significant competition for resources from larger predators such as cougars and wolves. Now that there are very few large predators, coyotes, being smaller and more adaptable, are expanding to fit that niche. If cougars were sneaky and humble enough to eat garbage without getting caught, there'd probably be more of them.
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 04:59 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]nchanter

So [info]asciikitty has been trying to convince me for YEARS that there are coyotes around Boston, in places like Newton and Weston. Having never heard a coyote in the middle of the night when living in these places, I've always been skeptical of her claims. Apparently I was wrong to doubt her...
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 01:30 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]jesshartley

We're a bit more rural (being out here in the boonies of Western Mass.) but I had honestly thought maybe the claims of rampant coyote population here were overstated too... until I saw a pair of them go through my yard last month. :)
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 01:32 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]mabfan

I remember that there was a minor coyote problem in Weston for a while, when I was teaching there. I just never expected to find coyotes in Brookline. (Of course, they just captured one in Central Park last week, so I guess coyotes are everywhere!)
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 01:36 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]lizziebelle

Reminds me of the little old woman who swallowed a fly! ;)
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 02:05 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]mabfan

Do you know why she swallowed a fly? Perhaps she really wanted a coyote!
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 02:09 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]arib

Coyote-eating robots, obviously.

After they've eaten all the coyotes, we can switch them over to hydrogen fuel cells or something.

Maybe they'll clean my house for Pesach.
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 02:36 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]mabfan

Giant coyote-eating Roomba robots!
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 02:45 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]batwrangler

Meep! Meep!
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 03:00 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]somehedgehog

And cyborg zombie monkeys.
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 04:54 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]batwrangler

Cars. Also furriers. (If you are willing to count metaphorical values of "eat".) I know of a couple in New Mexico who trained their wolfhound to take coyotes. And my uncle's monastery in CO kept a (two-L) llama to deter the local coyotes from taking sheep.
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 02:59 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]angwantibo

The numbers are kept in check by the turkey population. If they eat too many turkeys, their food will disappear and so will they. Generally, there's a 10:1 to 100:1 ratio of prey:predator in the wild.

The problem is, what if there is plenty of food and the turkey population can maintain a very high population? This would introduce more coyotes than people would care to have in the area.

We have plenty of coyotes, but they don't seem to be a problem. The main concern is rabies.

Also, don't leave babies and toddlers unattended.
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 03:00 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]xiphias

Honestly, in a fight between a coyote and a wild turkey, while the coyote has the edge, I don't think I'd give better than 5-to-3 on him.
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 04:29 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]fhwqhgads

What eats coyotes? - KONG.
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 04:37 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]mabfan

And then he can climb the Prudential Center!
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 04:47 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]fhwqhgads

Im tearing up just at the mention of it! :'-(
Posted on Apr. 1st, 2006 06:20 am (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]lucretia_borgia

You've all got it wrong. Nothing eats coyotes, but Western farmers shoot coyotes.

So Brookline should import a bunch of gun-totin' Red-State, red-bandana, Red-baiting, red-blooded Western farmers to shoot the coyotes. As long as they're prevented from restocking their ammo, their population will decrease quickly after they're done shootin'.

I just know Town Meeting will love that solution.

BTW, when I saw the title "Brookline Food Chain" I immediately thought you were going to start yammering about grocery stores...
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 04:43 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]mabfan

Maybe I should have gone with Brookline Food Web?
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 04:47 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]somehedgehog

I just want to point out that no one has cited the obvious natural enemies of the coyote - namely, falling anvils and defective products from the Acme corporation.
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 04:57 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]magid

*laugh*

How could I have forgotten those?!
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 05:19 pm (UTC) | | Parent | Thread | Reply

[info]jenwrites

Hmm...Waltham's now got turkeys, and I know we have coyotes...
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 05:54 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]querldox

Are there empty boxes labelled "Acme" littering the streets as well?
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 08:42 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]madwriter

As a tie-in to my comment over on Gnomi's journal, just make sure they don't import one-hundred foot high cats that walk on their hind legs.
Posted on Mar. 30th, 2006 09:13 pm (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]donovanstitch

Oh, c'mon, the answer is obvious -- chad gadya*, chad gadya (or perhaps the malach ha-maves**).

PSA translations for those who don't do Passover seders:

*"One goat"
**"The angel of death"
Posted on Mar. 31st, 2006 12:47 am (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]vettecat

Cougars! Here, kitty, kitty... :-)
Posted on Mar. 31st, 2006 07:12 am (UTC) | | Thread | Reply

[info]pressburger

There was also a cayote found in Central Park a couple of weeks ago.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-03-22-coyote-nyc_x.htm

They are taking over. or trying to and failing miserably.
Posted on Apr. 6th, 2006 02:19 am (UTC) | | Thread | Reply