Coyotes tend to be nocturnal, but may be seen at sunrise and sunset, and hunt during the day, according to the website. The basic necessities are shelter, food and water and they can live anywhere these needs are met,” said Weckel. “The truth is we don’t know if there are coyotes in these places. The Bronx coyotes were found to roam in quiet sections of the parks, both near water and in the woods, but always away from humans.Īccording to Weckel and Duncan, urban coyotes could potentially live in quiet industrial spaces within NYC in addition to parks. The GPS chips then transmit the location data to computers at the museum. Working with the Parks Department and expert trappers to tranquilize the coyotes, they place collars safely on the coyotes. The team at the Gotham Coyote Project tracks coyotes in the Bronx using collars with built in GPS chips. “The coyotes are able to stay under the radar there and that is the secret to their success,” said Weckel who believes that all NYC coyotes are related to one another and make up a multigenerational family. Researchers at The Gotham Coyote Project have identified a large breeding population in the Bronx, where many large wooded parks exist. “Genetics of northeast coyotes are thus mixed with wolves making the northeast coyote genomically different from the western coyote.” “As they moved east breeding occurred between western coyotes and eastern wolves,” said Duncan. “Coyotes are a species of the western United States and were not traditionally associated with any northeast regions,” said Weckel, who explained that coyotes began to migrate east in the 1940’s. The first known coyote in Manhattan was spotted in 1999 in Central Park. Much of the research takes place right on the Upper West Side at the American Museum of Natural History (AMNH).īack in February, before the shutdown, West Side Rag met with Mark Weckel, Co-Founder of the Gotham Coyote Project and Assistant Director, Youth Initiatives at AMNH, and Neil Duncan, Collections Manager for the Department of Mammalogy, along with scientists and high school students working on the project.Īccording to Weckel and Duncan, the first known coyote in New York City was reported in 1995 in the Bronx. The organization is comprised of researchers, educators and high school students. The Gotham Coyote Project was founded in April, 2010, to study the urban coyote and answer questions like these.
Why are coyotes living in Central Park? How did they get there? Are these the same animals as coyotes found in the West? One local group has been studying that very issue, and explained to us what’s going on. A coyote was seen numerous times just inside the park near West 82nd Street back in December. A poetry-inspiring coyote was spotted in the south end of the park a few weeks ago. In fact, there have been several coyote sightings in Central Park in recent months. Humans may be stuck inside today, but coyotes are still roaming around. A coyote spotted in Riverside Park a few years ago.
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