While coyote domestication is unlikely, some scientists suggest natural selection still favors boldness in wild canid populations that live near people. In other words, fear and flight responses are not suitable in an urban setting, and individuals have a better chance of survival and reproduction if they are confident and exploratory. Although this may be true, people don’ t usually appreciate bold coyotes, and reports of conflict increase when they encounter a coyote that doesn’ t seem fearful. Habituation, or a lack of fear of humans, can happen when people feed coyotes, and intentionally feeding coyotes perpetuates this process. Unintentional feeding, such as leaving trash unsecured or putting food out for other wildlife, can have the same consequences.
REFERENCES Boydston, E. E., Abelson, E. S., Kazanjian, A., & Blumstein, D. T.( 2018). Canid vs. canid. Human-Wildlife Interactions, 12( 2), 233-242.
Brooks, J., Kays, R., & Hare, B.( 2020). Coyotes living near cities are bolder: implications for dog evolution and humanwildlife conflict. Behaviour, 157( 3-4), 289-313.
Poessel, S. A., Mock, E. C., & Breck, S. W.( 2017). Coyote( Canis latrans) diet in an urban environment: variation relative to pet conflicts, housing density, and season. Canadian Journal of Zoology, 95( 4), 287-297.
Wilkinson, C. E., Caspi, T., Stanton, L. A., Campbell, D., & Schell, C. J.( 2023). Coexistence across space and time: Socialecological patterns within a decade of human‐coyote interactions in San Francisco. People and Nature, 5( 6), 2158-2177.
Young, J. K., Hammill, E., & Breck, S. W.( 2019). Interactions with humans shape coyote responses to hazing. Sci Rep 9( 1): 20046.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This article was written as part of graduate work in the Advanced Inquiry Program through Miami University( Oxford, OH) in affiliation with San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance( SDZWA). The views expressed in the article do not necessarily represent the views of SDZWA. Special thanks to Janet Kessler at coyoteyipps. com for providing the coyote photographs.
Angie Fonseca, CPDT-KA, UWAAB, FFCP, has been working with dogs and pet parents in San Diego for over 20 years. She has a Bachelor’ s degree in Psychology from San Diego State University and a Certificate in Applied Animal Behavior from the University of Washington. She is currently a graduate student in the Advanced Inquiry Program at Miami University, earning a Master’ s in Conservation Biology, focusing on urban coyotes and human-coyote coexistence.
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