Decades of urban coyotes go into making 'Coyotes Among Us'

Urban coyotes learn fast, down to crossing streets like humans.

They teach, too.

“They do humble us,” Stan Gehrt said. “I think humility is important for us. We need to open our minds and allow ourselves to learn from them. Coyotes have taught me that over and over again. You don’t know everything you think you do.”

That’s a big takeaway for Gehrt, principal investigator of Cook County-based Urban Coyote Research Project, from 20 years of studying urban coyotes. He teamed with Kerry Luft, executive vice president of the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation, to write “Coyotes Among Us.”

One of the most famous urban coyotes was 441. Collared at Lincoln Park Zoo and reported in downtown Chicago for years, she went viral after trotting behind a TV shot.

I was curious about her crossing streets.

“She would sit and wait, close to the sidewalk like a person,” Gehrt said. “She would then take her time. That was a key to her success, figuring out how to cross roads successfully.”

Or take Gehrt’s favorite, No. 1.

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“She and [her mate] Melonhead, they would adjust how they crossed roads,” Gehrt said. “Out in the suburbs, once you get to 1, 2 or 3 o’clock in the night, it is easier to cross, even six lanes. Sometimes they will wait until those times to cross those roads.”

Is it “ki-oh-tee” or “ki-yote?”

Gehrt writes that either is acceptable, noting, “The basic differences in pronunciation today appear to be regional and possibly influenced by the Looney Tunes character Wile E. Coyote, pronounced with three syllables.”

He uses “ki-yote.”

I’ve noticed a marked difference between urban and “wild” coyotes.

“Our scent and sound is enough to make them scurry away at a half mile or quarter mile [in the wild],” Gehrt said. “In the city, they don’t have the space to do that.

“But I would guess a cautionary note, the vast majority of urban coyotes have the inclination to avoid us. You do have the ones who have moderated their fear. But they are a minority. There are a lot more out here than we thought, once we started radio collaring.”

Among many highlights in “Coyotes Among Us” are details on 441 and 1 and the work on coyote personalities by grad students Katie Robertson and Ashley Wurth, both now Ph.D’s.

“Coyotes Among Us” is written for the general public and flows. I finished it in an evening.

Like the book, urbancoyoteresearch.com is a fount of information for the general public.

Gehrt’s biggest takeaway is a truth coyotes keep proving, “We are going to have to live with them. Our goal is to minimize those conflicts and provide a way for us and coyotes to both live in the same space.”

Jeff Nelson for the Urban Coyote Research Project

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