Why You're More Likely to See a Coyote That's Sick

Run-ins are on the rise between coyotes and city-dwelling humans, and scientists aren't sure why. Now researchers in Alberta think they've found a piece of the puzzle. Coyotes are more likely to creep into human spaces if they're unhealthy. Conflict between humans and coyotes has increased during the last 20 years, write University of Alberta graduate student Maureen Murray and her coauthors. Yet coyotes were expanding their range for decades before that. They've spread to inhabit nearly every part of North America. What makes some coyotes today march downtown and ride the light rail while others stay in a city's fringes and parks, never meeting a person? To explore the question, the researchers captured 21 wild coyotes in Edmonton, Alberta over the course of three years. They fitted the animals with GPS collars to track their movements. They also clipped a little hair from each animal's nape for chemical analysis. ...