[A story from Death Valley from the week I was born.]
Peculiar Actions of Coyote and Kit Fox
Journal of Mammalogy, Vol. 42, No. 1. (Feb., 1961), p. 109.
Ray Goe, Deputy Sheriff of Inyo County, California, told me of a strange happening at the scene of an auto accident in Death Valley on the night of 10 January 1960. After the victims were removed by ambulance, on the Daylight Pass road at about 1,000 feet elevation, Goe waited in his own car with the lights on the wreckage. At about 2 AM, three kit foxes, Vulpes macrotis, approached the scene and inspected the upturned auto. They entered the auto and began to lick blood from the frame. This continued for about 15 minutes. Suddenly, all three animals turned and ran from the scene. No sooner had they left than a coyote, Canis latrans, approached; it too entered the auto and licked blood. The coyote was frightened away soon afterward.
There seemed to be a real desire, on the part of both animals, to obtain fresh blood. Although rare in the United States today, the kit fox is relatively common in Death Valley. It is an inquisitive mammal and its curiosity often brings it into campgrounds, where it is fed by the equally curious campers. The coyote, on the other hand, is normally very shy and cautious. The fact that he ventured into a fully lighted auto, only minutes after it had been occupied, seems of interest.
-Roland H. Wauer, Death Valley National Monument, Death Valley, California. Received 14 March 1960.
Interesting article. I wonder if accident investigators have in the past wondered where all the blood went, when they came out to an accident scene the next day.
oh, make no mistake: they walk among us