Why coyotes aren't leaving New York City anytime soon

Wildlife ecologist Dr. Chris Nagy never goes hunting for coyote scat, also known as poop, without his trusted and loyal assistant, Ethan, a 10-year-old Norwegian Elkhound.

On an unseasonably warm November day in Pelham Bay Park in the Bronx, the trail was muddy, but beneath a layer of newly fallen leaves, Ethan could still find coyote droppings. It’s just one piece of evidence that coyotes continue to expand from wilderness territories into human environments. The dung can unlock even more details about diet, movement patterns, DNA and how the coyotes are adapting to urban life.

Nagy conducts these scat searches as part of the Gotham Coyote Project, funded by the Mianus River Gorge, a nonprofit nature preserve and conservation organization. Since 2010, they’ve been studying coyotes and following their movements without touching or disturbing these reclusive mammals.

According to an analysis of the droppings collected by Nagy’s research team, New York City-area coyotes are adapting to human food. Some scat contained food from halal carts, and other coyotes have developed a taste for chicken, but for the most part, they’re mostly sticking to wild diets. The researchers’ goals are to learn more about these canids and understand their impact on the urban ecosystem while also educating the public.

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