Female Coyote Gnawing Old Bison Carcass

Following a coyote along the Lamar Valley one February afternoon for about five hours, I observed that she had little success hunting mice since the snow was hard and crusty. At one point she found this bison leg bone. She had probably fed on it before when there was some real food to be had there. Since she was not having much luck finding anything else, she stopped here and spent a half hour gnawing on this used up bone. She twisted and pulled at the dried up cartilage, positioning herself so she could chew with her back teeth. This gave her greater pressure and force to break off little bits of the softer bone and allowed her to separate the dried cartilage from the still articulated leg of the mature bison.