So now that we know that thousands of coyotes live within the Chicago area, researcher Stan Gehrt and the folks at National Geographic have taken it upon themselves to record the lives of some of these urban coyotes living in the city using cameras attached to the animals. And despite coyotes being considered wild creatures, they can live anywhere and everywhere in the city. Reseacher Stan Gehrt even found two adult coyotes raising five pups in a concrete den in a Solider Field parking lot. The study has tracked coyotes using cameras and GPS-enabled collars since 2010, and has found the surprising number of ways the predators have adapted to life in the big city.
Evidently, the coyotes roam at night, have a larger territorial range than their suburban cousins, and sleep by day in whatever nooks they can find—sometimes only a few feet away from downtown foot traffic. National Geographic has some incredible footage of coyotes strolling through the city streets at night. Seriously, go watch it. Though Chicago has the most urbanized coyote population in the country, so far, your pets are (mostly) safe. Bears fans on the other hand might want to watch out when visiting Soldier Field next time.
—Jason Prechtel
·Downtown Coyotes: Inside the Secret Lives of Chicago's Predator [National Geographic]
·Thousands of Coyotes Live in Chicago and More Are On the Way [Curbed Chicago]
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