Suburban Coyotes

[TriPolar]

@DSeid

Maybe I am misunderstanding what you are trying to say but coyotes have indeed moved into suburban and urban locations and growing their populations there.

They have. Part of that is because their natural territory has been usurped by sprawl. The undeveloped areas are occupied already so the displaced wildlife will find the available niches in the human habitat where they don’t have their natural predators and competitors.

[HoneyBadgerDC]

@TriPolar

They have. Part of that is because their natural territory has been usurped by sprawl. The undeveloped areas are occupied already so the displaced wildlife will find the available niches in the human habitat where they don’t have their natural predators and competitors.

This is not even a factor. There are still plenty of areas for wild coyotes to roam. They moved into the cities decades after they lost the land you are talking about.

[Tamerlane]

@TriPolar

They have. Part of that is because their natural territory has been usurped by sprawl.

True in the West. In the East, it wasn’t really coyote territory at all so it is all virgin conquest ;). Although admittedly the Red Wolf taxonomy controversy makes the issue muddy in some areas.

@HoneyBadgerDC

This is not even a factor.

Oh, it probably is. Particularly in the CA hill chaparral where humans love to build highly burnable communities with lovely views. Not driving coyotes out so much as moving into areas they already are in.

[DSeid]

@Corry_El

In the eastern US coyotes now are significantly mixed with wolves and/or domestic dogs (usually both, sometimes just dogs, rarely just wolves). …

If so it is very different than what is seen in the Chicago area. Dog-coyote hybrids are very uncommon. They are bigger than country coyotes just because they are better fed.

@SciFri

… AUDIENCE: I think I know the coyotes that live in Graceland Cemetery and on Ravenswood at Wilson and, like, Wilson and Ravenswood. But are generally the city coyotes bigger than country ones? Because on the farm, the coyotes I see are really scrawny. And the couple that I see on Ravenswood and up there are– they look like big, built German Shepherds. Are they just eating a lot of food? Or are they mating with German Shepherds?

[LAUGHTER]

CHRIS ANCHOR: Yeah, there’s a couple of questions there. The last question about are they mating with German Shepherds. So I’ve been in this job since 1986. And in that time, I’ve literally handled thousands of coyotes. And I’ve never encountered a dog/coyote hybrid. That typically happens when coyotes first extend their range into an area where there are no coyotes and there’s a lack of suitable mates. So for that first generation, you’ll find coyotes and dogs will breed together. But then after that, there’s more than enough coyotes for them to breed.

To answer the first part of your question, coyotes in our area are able to phenotypically express themselves. So whatever genetic potential they have, there’s so much protein and carbohydrate available to them in the course of their life, they tend to be on the large size compared to what an animal would be, say, out in Nebraska or Colorado or Kansas or something like that. It’s the same animal. They just don’t have access to as much protein and carbohydrate as they do here…

@Tamerlane

True in the West. In the East, it wasn’t really coyote territory at all so it is all virgin conquest ;). Although admittedly the Red Wolf taxonomy controversy makes the issue muddy in some areas.

Oh, it probably is. Particularly in the CA hill chaparral where humans love to build highly burnable communities with lovely views. Not driving coyotes out so much as moving into areas they already are in.

But what TriPolar was claiming was that suburban sprawl was driving them out, displacing them, and forcing them into cities. That is simply not the case. They are just doing so well in suburbia that population growth is driving some to set up camp elsewhere … and they either learned how thrive in or adapted to (or some combination of both) the city ecosystem. Again, omnivore. Between garbage and hunting rats, feral cats, and even some feral dogs, they can thrive.

It would be an interesting study to see what the population of other urban animal denizens have done as coyote populations have increased.

[harmonicamoon]

@HoneyBadgerDC

This is not even a factor. There are still plenty of areas for wild coyotes to roam. They moved into the cities decades after they lost the land you are talking about.

And why not? They have humans growing their food.

I am surprised it took them decades to learn that.

[Bayaker]

In my area of exurban SE Texas there has been a purported increase in coyote population, but I have never seen any study numbers. That seems to follow on the reported increase of feral cats, so maybe one problem resolves another. And the alligator population is on the uptick, so the odd cat or coyote that dodges a .22 long is occasionally taken care of in other ways.