Calgary coyote researchers need help monitoring urban dens

Calgary researchers are looking for volunteers to help uncover more details about the dens of urban coyotes.

The city is home to hundreds of coyotes and for years researchers with the Calgary Urban Coyote Project have been studying these animals. Their research has already revealed the large range of two male coyotes that were collared.

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While coyotes have a relatively small territory that theyprotect, these coyotes travelled long distances in the city, crossing high-traffic roads, pedestrian bridges and industrial parks.

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Understanding more about these animals will help Calgarians live peacefully with them, said project leader Alessandro Massolo.

To me the solution of coexistence is knowledge and information,said theassistant professor in wildlife health ecology at the University of Calgary. If you know the others, you can live with the others. The problems are raised when you dont know the others.

Citizen Coyote project

The newest project, which is launching next month, is called Citizen Coyote.

Researchers are looking for three types of help from the public: people who can simply report the location of dens, people who are willing to monitorthe densand a handful of ambassadors wanting to work more closely on the data analysis and research.

Calgary coyotes den from March to August. Researchers are hoping to learn more about the reproductive behaviour of the animals.

Both of the males collared had litters and spent a lot of time with their pups. In one den, a female and male were raising two litters of different ages.

Massolosays he isnt sure how this came to happen, but he is hoping Citizen Coyote can uncover more information.

They are so adaptable that they can actually adopt other puppies, he said. We dont know if these were from a sister or simply from another coyote, but these animals are quite amazing.