======================================================================
| Number | Per cent
| | of total
--------------------------------------------------+--------+----------
Perognathus fallax fallax | 2 | 5.1
Peromyscus californicus insignis | 2 | 5.1
P. eremicus fraterculus | 26 | 66.7
Neotoma lepida intermedia | 9 | 23.1
--------------------------------------------------+--------+----------
The prickly-pear cactus is of obvious importance to certain mammals of
the coastal sage belt. This cactus is most common in disturbed areas
such as sandy flats bordering washes, eroded adobe banks, and land once
cleared by man. In these areas it is often the dominant plant with
respect to area covered, usually growing in dense patches each covering
approximately 150 square feet. It provides substitute nesting sites for
_Neotoma lepida_ in areas devoid of rock piles, and is probably the
major factor governing the distribution of this wood rat in the
sageland. Cottontails and brush rabbits use prickly-pear cactus
extensively as refuge. Their forms and short burrows can be seen beneath
many of the clumps of cactus.
This cactus serves as food for many mammals at least in the fruiting
period in the fall. Usually only the fruit is eaten, but some pads are
chewed by rabbits. The fruit or seeds of this plant are eaten by striped
skunks, gray foxes, coyotes, pocket mice, kangaroo rats, wood rats, and
probably white-footed mice.
The coyote is the dominant carnivore of the coastal sage flats. Many
individuals spend the day in the adjacent chaparral-covered foothills
and travel down into the flats at night to forage.