An Introduction to NYC Coyotes

Welcome. After having observed the Locust Manor Long Island Railroad Coyote in Queens, NYC in the fall of 2012 I became fascinated with the possibility of Coyotes living in the United States most populous Metropolis. Coyotes have been in the Bronx for some time now, and are widely accepted as being residents of that borough. The Bronx is connected to Westchester County and thus Upstate NY, hence Coyotes colonization there is to be expected. Coyotes in Manhattan are a surprise however, as there is little habitat for them, along with the fact that Manhattan is an Island and is thus isolated from the mainland. Every year Coyotes are spotted in Manhattan and these rogues are presumed to have crossed railroad tracks, bridges, or even swam across the East and/or Hudson rivers. Unlike the Bronx, the Coyotes in Manhattan are not residents, they are roaming vagrants that always end up captured and relocated. Brooklyn has had very few Coyote sightings. This is likely due to the lack of parks in the Borough, and the lack of potential travel paths a Coyote could use to get there. Queens is home to the city's only non-Bronx resident Coyote(s). The Locust Manor Long Island Railroad station is adjacent to a small parcel of wooded land. Coyotes were first spotted there in 2010 and as recently as last year. I witnessed a large, darker-than-usual color morph, Coyote there in 2012.

The Coyotes in NYC, like all Coyotes in the Northeastern United States, are not genetically pure. Canis Latrans historically is a Western species. Gray Wolves, as a competitor and adversary, kept Coyote population numbers in check and in a specific geographic area. However as the United States was industrialized, forests were destroyed and along with them the creatures that inhabited them. Wolves were exterminated from nearly the entire Eastern half of the country. This left no wild canids and a large niche to fill. By the early 20th century deforestation had slowed, and by the mid 20th century forested land was rebounding. Coyotes, being more adaptable than Wolves, started moving East. The Coyotes moving towards the Southeast remained more or less pure Coyotes, however the ones coming Northeast met up with Canis Lycaon, the Eastern Wolf, in Canada. The Wolf numbers were low, so they readily interbred with these migrating Coyotes creating a Coywolf that populated the Northeast. Every Coyote in the Northeast is in reality a Coywolf, some containing as much as 80% wolf DNA. For the sake of simplicity this blog will refer to these Coywolfs that inhabit NYC simply as Coyotes.



Source:
Genetic Characterization of Eastern “Coyotes” in Eastern Massachusetts. By Way, Rutledge, Wheeldon, White. Northeastern Naturalist 17(2):189-204.