| . . . The amazing part is we captured this animal in the middle of the Chicago metropolitan area, one of the largest urban centers in North America. |
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Stan Gehrt, Assistant Professor in the School of Environment and Natural Resources and Wildlife Extenstion Specialist, shares his journey in research of the coyote. Stan is also a faculty member in the Terrestrial Wildlife Ecology Laboratory.
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The coyote is a member of the wolf family, and is often called the Song Dog because of its habit of group howling. Given the coyote’s status as an icon of the wild west, people might be surprised to find that over the past decade coyotes have moved into the cities, and with them has come the mystery and misunderstanding that has typified the history of our relationship with this animal.
Indeed, the coyote remains one of the most misunderstood animals today.
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For reasons we still do not understand, coyotes began to increase dramatically in the Chicago area over a 10-year period in the 1990s. Because of the public’s concern with having such a large predator living among them, I initiated a research project to understand how coyotes are successful in cities, and what threats they represent to people and pets. Since that day in March over 10 years ago, we have captured and followed the fates of over 400 coyotes in our attempts to lift some of the shrouds of mystery surrounding this animal. Our goals include using modern technology to peer into the lives of coyotes, and to replace myth with truth wherever possible.
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Some of the questions we are addressing include:
- Where do coyotes live in the city?
- What do they eat?
- How far do they travel?
- What is their social system?
We are also interested in how coyotes affect other wildlife, and of course, what threats they represent to people, either directly through attacks or indirectly through disease.
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METHODS
| Over the years we have used technology such as traditional VHF radiotelemetry, satellite data with GPS radiocollars, customized surveillance cameras, and even molecular genetics. We capture coyotes with traps designed to reduce injury. We remove the coyote from a trap and immobilize it. Once a coyote is immobilized, we ear tag them and fit them with a radiocollar that allows us to track its movements. The radiocollars are also equipped with a mortality switch that alerts us soon after the death of the animal. A blood sample is collected for disease and genetic information. During the spring, we also locate natal dens and mark pups with small microchips. Thus, we are able to identify young coyotes and monitor the progress of the litter. |
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| Each week technicians and graduate students locate coyotes during the day, and track them during their movements at night. This is done throughout the year, and we usually monitor 30-40 coyotes in any single month. A significant development in the past year has been our use of GPS radiocollars that are located by satellites, so that we do not need to follow the animals in the field. An interesting aspect of this technology is that it operates much like a cell phone, in which we can communicate with the collar and the radiocollar sends texts with the locations of the coyote at predetermined intervals. In essence, the coyote ‘sends’ its locations over the past week to us over the phone. And yes, we actually do have the coyotes signed up for the AT&T family plan.
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RESULTS
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Each time we radiocollar a coyote, we look forward to the story that animal has to tell. In some cases, the story is short if the animal dies or disperses from the study area soon after capture, or it is a long, multifaceted story if we are able to follow that animal for years. Fortunately for us, the long term nature of the project has allowed us to follow many individual coyotes for years, all the while observing their relationships with other coyotes and people. When we combine the individual stories of many coyotes, we essentially have a novel with many plot twists and surprises.
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One of the surprises we have uncovered is that there are many more coyotes living in the metropolitan area than we realize, including coyotes living in downtown areas. It was one of our first among many surprises when we observed coyotes living among millions of people, with territories that included all manner of developments. They manage this by restricting their activity to nighttime (coyotes in natural areas area active day and night), and hiding in small nooks and crannies in the landscape during the day. One of my favorite coyotes had a hiding place next to a downtown post office, such that hundreds of people unknowingly walked by her on a daily basis.
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The red dots represent the locations of a adult male coyote living in an urban area, and the green locations represent the locations of a female coyote living completely in a cemetery. |
Our study is also the first to combine field observations with genetic analysis to conclusively describe the coyote social system. The family life of the coyote is one of the most important aspects of its existence, and much of its behavior throughout the year revolves around interactions with other coyotes. Yet it is the social system that remains largely hidden from our eyes and it has taken all our advanced technology, from the satellites above to the microscopic analysis of DNA, to uncover parts of this chapter of the story. The social system of the coyote is highly structured, and at the center is the alpha pair. The alpha pair is an unrelated adult male and female that occupy a territory that they defend from other coyotes. If survival is high, the alpha pair may live in a pack that is largely comprised of the sons and daughters of the alpha pair. The subordinates typically do not breed, but help raise the litter, as do both parents. The additional parental help allows the coyote to successfully produce large litters. We have found litter sizes of 9-11 pups to be common in our study, all of them coming from a single set of parents.
A genetic analysis by an SENR graduate student of 20 packs and nearly 30 litters has revealed that, unlike most wildlife, coyotes are truly monogamous, and that the alpha pair will stay together until one of them dies. We have yet to document any cheating among ‘spouses’ in our study. The long term nature of our research has allowed us to follow these alpha pairs over the years; one of our pairs has been together since 2004, and they have raised at least 6 litters together.
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Research by graduate students has focused on the relationships between coyotes and other urban wildlife. An SENR graduate student discovered that urban coyotes act as a biocontrol for Canada geese through their predation of goose nests. This surprising finding has led to the production of coyote ‘scarecrows’ to scare geese away from parks and golf courses.
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| Another SENR graduate student reported on the impact that coyotes have on gray foxes in the Chicago area. Within the canid family, dominance between species is based on size, such that wolves exclude coyotes, and coyotes exclude foxes. Coyotes may directly kill foxes, or simply exclude them from territories. In the Chicago area, red and gray foxes were quite common prior to the invasion of coyotes, but now both species are rare. We have radiocollared gray foxes and nearly half of them were killed by coyotes, with an equal proportion dying from disease. The strong dominance behavior in the coyote family is strong and is sometimes responsible for conflicts, as coyotes will occasionally attack and kill dogs, typically to defend their territories. |
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FUTURE FOCUS
New objectives for the research project include focusing on the few nuisance coyotes in the population and testing ways to change their behavior to reduce conflicts with people. We are also investigating the relationship between coyotes and domestic cats, to determine how frequently and under what circumstances coyotes kill outdoor cats.
The urban coyote phenomenon is a natural experiment currently being played out across most cities across North America. Results from our research in Chicago are helping educators, conservationists, agencies, and administrators across the country develop strategies for reducing conflicts and living with these predators of the cities.
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