What Are Wild Coyotes Doing in the Big City?

Overview

Chicago is the third-largest city in the U.S., and one of the country’s most diverse. There’s a secret subculture here that’s growing larger by the year but lurks out of sight in shadow — coyotes! More than 4,000 of these canines prowl the streets of Chicago; you’ll even find them stalking amongst the skyscrapers of Michigan Avenue and busy Lake Shore Drive. What are they doing in downtown Chicago? And how are they transforming our thinking about cities and their relationship with the natural world? Researchers with the Chicago Urban Coyote Research Project are tracking these resourceful predators to learn their secrets. In two decades of work, they’ve collared more than 600 animals. What they’re finding is upending decades of ecological thinking.