Coyotes are everywhere now, and I mean everywhere.
When I moved to Los Angeles five years ago, I expected traffic and wildfires and maybe the occasional celebrity sighting at Whole Foods. What I didn’t expect was to lock eyes with a coyote on my morning jog through Griffith Park, watching me with this unsettling mixture of curiosity and indifference, like I was the one intruding on his commute. Turns out, I kind of was. Urban coyotes have expanded their range across North America over the past century in ways that honestly defy what we thought we knew about large predators and their relationship to human spaces. They’ve colonized every major city from New York to Vancouver, thriving in places where wolves—their larger, less adaptable cousins—were exterminated decades ago. The thing is, coyotes aren’t just surviving in cities; they’re flourishing, raising pups in highway underpasses and golf courses, hunting rabbits in suburban backyards at dawn. Scientists estimate there are now roughly 2,000 coyotes living in Chicago alone, maybe more, and similar populations have established themselves in Boston, Washington D.C., and even Manhattan.
The Ecological Vacuum That Wolves Left Behind and Coyotes Happily Filled
Here’s the thing: coyotes weren’t always this successful.
Historically, their range was limited to the prairies and deserts of central North America, kept in check by larger predators like wolves and by the simple fact that dense forests weren’t really their habitat of choice. But when European settlers systematically eradicated wolves throughout the 1800s and early 1900s—through hunting, poisoning, and habitat destruction—they created what ecologists call a “mesopredator release.” Without wolves to compete with or kill them outright (wolves are notoriously aggressive toward coyotes and will kill them on sight), coyotes began spreading east and west, adapting to new environments with remarkable speed. By the 1930s, they’d reached the East Coast. By the 1980s, they were in suburbs. Now they’re in downtown cores, and the expansion shows no signs of slowing.
Why Cities Are Actually Perfect Habitat If You’re A Coyote With Flexible Tastes
I used to think cities would be hostile environments for wild predators, but wait—maybe that’s just my human bias showing.
Urban areas offer coyotes everything they need: abundant food sources (rats, squirrels, garbage, pet food left outside, the occasional outdoor cat—sorry), water from irrigation systems and fountains, and surprisingly good denning sites under sheds, in drainage culvers, or in overgrown parks. Plus, there’s less competition from other predators and, paradoxically, less danger from humans than in rural areas where they’re actively hunted and trapped. A 2015 study by Stan Gehrt at Ohio State University tracked urban coyotes in Chicago and found they had survival rates higher than their rural counterparts, lived longer, and succesfully raised more pups to adulthood. City coyotes have learned to be nocturnal, avoiding human activity during peak hours. They’ve figured out traffic patterns. One coyote in Gehrt’s study crossed the same busy intersection at the same time every night for three years, waiting for the red light.
The Genetic Adaptations Happening Faster Than We Expected Them To
Anyway, it’s not just behavioral flexibility.
Recent genetic studies suggest urban coyote populations are actually evolving in response to city life, though the research here is still emerging and honestly a bit messy. Scientists have found that eastern coyotes—the ones colonizing cities from Chicago to New York—carry wolf and dog DNA, roughly 10-25% depending on the population, which may have given them larger body sizes and greater adaptability to varied diets. Some researchers think this hybridization was crucial to their eastward expansion, allowing them to tackle larger prey and survive harsher winters. Urban coyotes also show genetic markers associated with boldness and reduced fear responses, traits that would definately be advantageous when living alongside millions of humans. It’s microevolution in real time, shaped by the intense selection pressures of urban environments: only the smartest, boldest, most flexible individuals survive and reproduce.
What Living Alongside Urban Coyotes Actually Means For Cities Going Forward
The truth is, coyotes aren’t going anywhere.
Removal programs have failed spectacularly—kill one coyote and two more show up from surrounding territories, drawn by the suddenly available resources and space. Los Angeles tried this for years before giving up. The reality we’re facing is coexistence, whether we like it or not, which requires rethinking how we manage urban wildlife and educate residents about keeping pets safe (bring them in at night, don’t leave food outside) and securing garbage. Some cities like Vancouver and Portland have embraced this, launching education campaigns instead of culling programs. I guess it makes sense: coyotes provide ecosystem services by controlling rodent populations and recieve almost no credit for it. Still, there’s tension. Pet owners are understandably upset when small dogs disappear. Parents worry about children, though attacks on humans are extraordinarily rare—you’re more likely to be killed by a domestic dog by several orders of magnitude. We’re learning to live with a predator that’s learning to live with us, and honestly, the coyotes are adapting faster than we are.
