Gotham’s Furriest: The Urban Coyote
Posted in Wildlife on January 13 2011, by Plant Talk
| Mark Weckel is Director of Research and Land Management, Mianus River Gorge Preserve |
From Westchester down to Manhattan, reports of coyote sightings cropped up throughout 2010.
The truth is, coyotes don’t live everywhere (and so far not at The New York Botanical Garden), but they are becoming increasingly more adapted to urban living Researchers from Mianus River Gorge Preserve and WildMetro are using remote cameras (see footage of a coyote at Nature Study Woods in Westchester County below) to monitor urban coyotes to try to figure out one important question: Just how urban can an eastern coyote get?
Coyotes are native to the western U.S., yet have expanded their range throughout the east As of now the only large landmass without a coyote population is Long Island. If coyotes are to colonize Long Island, those living in Westchester and New Jersey will have to go through New York City!
This is giving wildlife biologists the rare opportunity to learn more about how animals adapt to urbanization in real time, which parks and natural areas will support coyotes, how they use man-made and natural corridors, and hopefully, what role these new predators will have to the ecology of the greater NYC metropolitan area.
Video: Nature Study Woods, Westchester County, NY 2010
