The sound of a coyote paints an image of a lone creature, howling at the moon somewhere in the vast Western wilderness. But these days, a coyote’s howl is likely to be heard in a city park, or even your own backyard. I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by DuPont. Not too long ago, coyotes were only found in the Great Plains of the United States.
“If you go back to Lewis & Clark’s journals, Lewis & Clark, as they set forth across North America, did not see any coyotes until they crossed the Mississippi, I think that was in eastern Nebraska where they saw their first coyote. So they really did not exist east of the MIssissippi prior to the mid- to late 1800’s.”
Matt Gompper is a coyote expert at Columbia University. He says that coyotescan now be found throughout the country, including every state east of the Mississippi. Last year, one was even captured in New York’s Central Park.
“I don’t believe that they are living in Central Park and that there are large populations of coyotes there, but clearly coyotes are utilizing virtually all of the available habitat that is out there.”
The coyote population has spread largely thanks to human taming of the wilderness. In areas where forests were cleared for farmland, deer and other coyote prey became more plentiful. Humans have also crowded out or killed off larger predators such as wolves and mountain lions, which compete with coyotes for food. But coyotes have also thrived because they will eat just about anything.
“They eat large and small prey, they eat fruits and animals, they will eat vertebrate and invertebrates, birds and rodents and deer.”
Coyotes also feed on refuse from garbage dumps and, much to the distress of suburban residents, small pets. We’ll talk about efforts to reduce the coyote population on our next program. Pulse of the Planet is presented by DuPont, bringing you the miracles of science, with additional support provided by the National Science Foundation. I’m Jim Metzner.
Coyotes - Expansion
Coyotes used to live only in the wild, west of the Mississippi, but now they're in parks and backyards all over the country.
Air Date:07/27/2000
Scientist:
Transcript:
ambience: Coyote howl
The sound of a coyote paints an image of a lone creature, howling at the moon somewhere in the vast Western wilderness. But these days, a coyote's howl is likely to be heard in a city park, or even your own backyard. I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet, presented by DuPont. Not too long ago, coyotes were only found in the Great Plains of the United States.
"If you go back to Lewis & Clark's journals, Lewis & Clark, as they set forth across North America, did not see any coyotes until they crossed the Mississippi, I think that was in eastern Nebraska where they saw their first coyote. So they really did not exist east of the MIssissippi prior to the mid- to late 1800's."
Matt Gompper is a coyote expert at Columbia University. He says that coyotescan now be found throughout the country, including every state east of the Mississippi. Last year, one was even captured in New York's Central Park.
"I don't believe that they are living in Central Park and that there are large populations of coyotes there, but clearly coyotes are utilizing virtually all of the available habitat that is out there."
The coyote population has spread largely thanks to human taming of the wilderness. In areas where forests were cleared for farmland, deer and other coyote prey became more plentiful. Humans have also crowded out or killed off larger predators such as wolves and mountain lions, which compete with coyotes for food. But coyotes have also thrived because they will eat just about anything.
"They eat large and small prey, they eat fruits and animals, they will eat vertebrate and invertebrates, birds and rodents and deer."
Coyotes also feed on refuse from garbage dumps and, much to the distress of suburban residents, small pets. We'll talk about efforts to reduce the coyote population on our next program. Pulse of the Planet is presented by DuPont, bringing you the miracles of science, with additional support provided by the National Science Foundation. I'm Jim Metzner.