Cahalane (1948:253) mentions the difficulty that has been experienced in protecting aesthetically desirable trees around cliff dwellings. Perhaps in a local area removal of porcupines is sometimes warranted, but control of the porcupine seems undesirable to me, as a general policy, because one purpose of a National Park is to preserve natural conditions and that implies naturally occurring changes.
What is needed is continued careful study of the ecological relationships of animals and of plants. National parks provide, to the extent that they are not disturbed or "controlled," especially favorable places for studies of this sort.
Mus musculus subsp.
House Mouse
Specimens examined.—Total, 7: North end Mesa Verde National Park, 7000 ft, 76290; west bank Mancos River northeast side Mesa Verde National Park, 76291–76296.
Canis latrans mearnsi Merriam
Coyote
Specimens examined.—Total, 3: 69472, skull only of a young individual, found dead at the top of the bank of the Mancos River, 1½ mi. E Waters Cabin, 6400 ft., August 29, 1956, probably killed by man; ad. ♂, 76298, taken by J.R. Alcorn, November 10, 1957, on the top of the Mesa at Square Tower House; and skin and skull, MV 7858/507, without data.
Tracks or scats of the coyote were seen in all parts of the Park visited. Coyotes range throughout the area. On September 3, 1956, 35 coyote scats were found on the dirt roads in Prater and Morfield canyons above 7300 feet elevation and on the road crossing the divide between these canyons. Probably none of these scats was more than a month old. Coyote tracks were seen at some of the fresher scats. Scats associated with fox tracks and scats of small size were not picked up. Nevertheless, a few of the scats studied may have been those of foxes. Judging from the contents of scats that were certainly from foxes, the effect of inadvertent inclusion of fox scats would be to elevate the percentage of scats containing berries (but not more than five percentage points). Each scat was broken up and the percentage of scats containing each of the following items was noted (figures are to the nearest per cent). Remains of deer occurred in 48 per cent of scats, gooseberries (Ribes) in 34 per cent, porcupines in 29 per cent, insects in 11 per cent, birds in 11 per cent, unidentified hair in 9 per cent, and unidentified material in 6 per cent. One scat (3 per cent) contained an appreciable amount of plant debris, one contained Microtus along with other items, and one contained only Sylvilagus; 14 scats had material of more than one category. The percentage in each category of the volume of each scat was estimated. Data on volume warrant no conclusion other than one that can be drawn from the percentages of occurrence, namely that the major food sources used in August, 1956, by coyotes in these canyons were deer, berries, and porcupines and that other sources, though used, were relatively unimportant. Deer were common in the area. It is fortunate that coyotes remain to help regulate the deer population. Wolves, Canis lupus, which at one time occurred in the Park, are now gone. The coyote and mountain lion are the only sizeable predators that remain.
Vulpes vulpes macroura Baird
Red Fox
D. Watson (in letter of January 16, 1957) reported that red foxes have been seen on the Mesa by several employees of the Park. These persons know the gray fox, which often is seen in winter feeding at their back doors, and Mr. Watson considers the reports reliable. In the early morning of October 24, 1943, a reddish-yellow fox having a white-tipped tail was observed by three men, one of whom was Chief Ranger Wade, at Park Point. In 1948, 1950, and 1953 black foxes have been reported.