Even in the largest American cities, a historically maligned
beast is thriving, despite scientists' belief that these mammals
intently avoid urban human populations. This animal's amazing
ability to thrive in metropolitan areas has greatly surprised
scientists, says Stanley Gehrt, an assistant professor of
environmental and natural resources at Ohio State University.
Gehrt is in the sixth year of a multi-year study of coyote
behavior in urban Chicago. Since the study began, Gehrt and his
colleagues have found that urban coyote populations are much
larger than expected; that they live longer than their rural
cousins in these environments; and that they are more active at
nighttime than coyotes living in rural areas. Coyotes also do
some good – they help control rapidly growing populations of
Canada geese throughout North America . And while his coyote
research is concentrated in Chicago, the results likely apply to
most major metropolitan areas in North America. Gehrt has even
seen a pack of about a dozen on O