Beware: Atlanta’s coyotes are lurking just out of sight, study shows

To answer some of those questions, the University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources has partnered with Wildlife Atlanta to study how coyotes have adapted to urban life, with the goal of minimizing negative interactions between them and humans. The data will also help researchers estimate how many coyotes call metro Atlanta home, as the current number is unknown.

To do this, scientists placed GPS collars on 50 coyotes. Many of the collars were also equipped with cameras, which let researchers monitor the animals’ health by looking for signs of disease and checking their dens in the spring.

Based on the findings, coyotes seem to have adapted to urban life better than expected. The 30-pound canines tend to bop around the same general territory and typically spend the day lounging and sleeping in wooded areas to avoid human interaction before roaming at night.

Coyotes are relatively new to Georgia, having migrated to the state from west of the Mississippi River in 1970, according to the Atlanta Coyote Project. Now, they are found in all of Georgia’s 159 counties and are crucial parts of the ecosystem, keeping small rodent and insect populations at bay.

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This coyote was captured recently in DeKalb County's Oakhurst neighborhood.

Summer Fink, a Ph.D. student at UGA, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that coyotes have “extreme adaptability” skills that have made adjusting to urbanization much easier.

“(They) are typically active at dawn and dusk,” she said. “But, in urban areas, coyotes must shift to a more nocturnal lifestyle in order to avoid conflicts with humans.”

Collar camera footage posted to YouTube recently, for example, shows a coyote embarking on his journey as the sun sets. It then shows the animal standing at an intersection and watching as a traffic light turns red before finding some fast-food scraps and returning home to his mate by sunrise.

Some videos show the canines engaging in more predictable behavior during the day, such as lying around with their mates, drinking water from a creek and taking care of their pups — all activities that keep them far away from their human neighbors.

As night falls, they become more active, spending much of their time hunting and scavenging in more densely populated areas. One coyote’s camera shows it walking outside of a hotel and another shows it sneaking through what appears to be an apartment complex.

Since many coyotes are lurking just out of sight, it is important to protect small pets. While no dog attacks have been caught on the collar cameras, some coyotes have been seen feeding on feral cats.

Wildlife Atlanta suggests keeping pets leashed while outside or keeping them inside as much as possible, especially at night.

Getting pets updated on vaccines is also important. While rabies infections are rare in coyotes, they can carry the same diseases as household animals, including parvovirus, heartworm and distemper.

Additionally, it is important to keep trash secured. That also applies to pet food that coyotes — or any hungry wildlife — might want to access for an easy snack.

“Coyotes are opportunistic foragers, meaning they take advantage of the easily available resources,” Fink said. “Because of this, they help clean up the environment through consuming roadkill animals and food waste.”

The main thing to remember is that coyotes want to avoid humans just as much as we want to avoid them, researchers said. If you do cross paths with one, loud noises will scare them away, Wildlife Atlanta advises.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources offers a resource guide with more advice on how to react during a coyote encounter.

If you’re interested in other critters that have made the city their home, Wildlife Atlanta has placed 60 cameras across the city. They monitor coyotes and other wildlife and have captured more than 100,000 photos since 2019.