25 October 2017

Last week coyotes made a splash in my Pittsburgh neighborhood when one appeared in early October.  Frank Gottlieb mentioned his sighting on Nextdoor, Luanne Lavelle photographed one behind her house (above) and Crystal Barry zoomed in on this one at the edge of the road (below).  It may be the same animal moving around.

Have coyotes suddenly arrived in the city?  Are they something we should worry about?  No and no.  Here’s their fascinating story.

Eastern coyotes (Canis latrans) look like gray to reddish-brown husky dogs though they are smaller, have a different head shape, and never curl up their tails.  About a third larger than western coyotes, the eastern species weighs 35 to 55 pounds from the smallest female to the largest male.

The eastern coyotes’ appearance, size, and presence in Pennsylvania are all human-induced traits caused by our actions toward wild canines and the landscape.

Humans eradicated wolves, mountain lions and deer from Pennsylvania by the late 1800’s.  Coyotes don’t do well where wolves are in charge but during the low ebb of both populations coyotes and wolves hybridized in Ontario resulting in a larger animal with a wider range of prey.

Meanwhile Pennsylvania reintroduced deer whose population soared by the 1930s, expanding to suburbs and cities 60 years later.  Wolves and mountain lions did not come back to Pennsylvania but eastern coyotes moved into the deer-eating niche. Coyotes came to Pennsylvania in the 1930s and covered the state by the 1990s.

When did coyotes enter Pittsburgh city limits?  I heard of one in 2003; probably not the first.

Though coyotes are too small to bring down an adult deer, they eat fawns and dead deer (roadkill).  A study of the stomach contents of 300 Pennsylvania coyotes showed their preferences in this order:

• Deer (present in 57% of stomachs), fawns and roadkill.  Deer are everywhere in Pittsburgh now.
• Mouse-sized mammals:  mice, voles, moles, chipmunks
• Plants (present in 50% of stomachs)
• Rabbits and groundhogs
• Insects (present in 18% of stomachs)
• Birds are only 10% of the coyote’s diet

Why do we see coyotes in October?  Fall is the time of year when coyote families disperse. The young, full size at 9 months old, move away and hunt alone in fall and winter then pair up at two years old to raise a family.  Smart coyotes hide from humans but some young ones haven’t learned that lesson yet.

Are coyotes dangerous?  Not to us humans but myths abound, apparently borrowed from our myths about wolves. 

• No, coyotes won’t eat your kids.
• No, coyotes won’t lure your big dog away to eat him. Coyotes play with big dogs (video). Their DNA is 10% domestic dog!
• No, coyotes will not stay away from your neighborhood if you remove the one you’ve seen. New coyotes will arrive soon to take its place.

However, coyotes will take a small pet if it looks easy to do.  If you’re really worried about coyotes, here’s how to discourage them from visiting your yard:

• Don’t leave any food outdoors.  Enclose your garbage. Don’t leave pet food out.  Don’t feed any wildlife. If you attract mice or rats (bird seed), rodents will attract coyotes.
• Watch your small dog when you let it out in the backyard.  Keep your cat indoors.
• If you see a coyote, shout and wave your arms. Shoo it away.  Don’t try to befriend a coyote. Keep them wild.

Coyotes are smart and our pressure against them makes them smarter.  Appreciate them from afar.

Learn more at these websites:

• Pittsburgh Post Gazette, 2015: Coyotes are “everywhere” but they pose little threat to humans.
• Penn-Live, Coyote hunts in Pennsylvania bag 40,000 coyotes per year.
• PBS NATURE documentary on eastern coyotes.
• Project Coyote: Living with coyotes in the landscape.

Thank you to my Nextdoor neighbors Frank Gottlieb, Luanne Lavelle, Crystal Barry, Daniel Brown and Steffi Bruninghaus for their helpful comments about coyotes.

(photos by Luanne Lavelle and Crystal Barry)