I read an article today about urban coyotes. Apparently they're living in lots of cities in the U.S., even thriving. Urban coyotes need less land to survive (only about a sixth of the land area that rural ones need) and they live longer. A coyote in urban Chicago has a 60% chance of surviving for one year, compared to a 30% chance for a rural coyote. Imagine if your chance of living until next year was only 60% - and if that was considered good!
When Hope Ryden studied coyotes in Yellowstone, they were so fearful of humans that she couldn't risk being seen by them - they would have abandoned their den. Any disturbance in their environment freaked them out. She parked a truck on the next hill over from their den, shuttered all the windows, and spent six weeks lying in darkness inside the truck watching them through a tiny telescope. She had to pee in jars and couldn't heat any of her food or even move around much, for fear that they would hear her. They still got upset enough that they moved the pups to a new den, but she was able to follow them and they tolerated the truck's presence long enough for her to complete her observations. It's hard to believe that these shy, skittish creatures could be the same species as urban coyotes that coexist with traffic, noise, and a constantly changing environment.
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