‘At dawn and dusk:’ Atlanta coyotes hit the streets when light gets low, UGA research shows

ATLANTA — University of Georgia researchers say about 80% of coyote interactions reported to state officials were sightings, while just 9% of calls reported a coyote threatening an animal or a person.

The study by the University of Georgia’s Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources shows that not only are coyotes living in the metro Atlanta area, but they’re moving into deep urban centers across the country, too.

The researchers also track what they call human-wildlife conflict reports, including recording where different interactions occur, which they said helps them create maps to “predict what type of conflicts are most likely to be reported in that area.”

According to UGA and Wildlife Atlanta, coyotes have been in Georgia since at least the 1970s. However, the “rapid urbanization in Atlanta has increased interactions between humans, wildlife and domestic animals, exposing them to zoonotic diseases.”

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Generally, and with urban interactions in mind, concerns over rabies aren’t completely unfounded, but Summer Fink, a doctoral student involved in the research, said fear over contracting rabies is very high due to people not normally being exposed to larger animals like coyotes.

The biggest cluster of dots shows the City of Atlanta had the most, in terms of where coyotes were going. The data itself comes from 50 coyotes tagged with GPS collars for the researchers to monitor their locations and behaviors over time. The study effort also set up dozens of trail cameras to capture the coyotes’ movements along with the GPS trackers.

UGA researchers say this is not by itself news. An interactive map from the research program shared by Wildlife Atlanta showed which parts of the metro coyotes have popped up. As far as where the coyotes spend their time, it depends on if it’s day or night.

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The Warnell School said “early insights from footage show during daylight, Atlanta coyotes typically lie low in dense cover like forests or kudzu patches,” but at night, they start to explore more actively once human activity dies down, “often venturing into more developed areas of the city.”

Data from the den checks found that coyotes are living about the length of a football field away from a human building, on average, though the closest recorded den was 25 meters, or a basketball court away from a human building. Some man-made dens coyotes have moved into include culverts, discarded concrete and abandoned boats.

Georgia DNR’s Urban Wildlife Program reported that 11.4% of their urban wildlife responses were related to coyote interactions.

Previous research from UGA reported that coyotes are highly adaptable, and are increasing their ranges to more urban areas, including cities with little green space. This has led to more frequent reports of people in the metro Atlanta area interacting with coyotes.

According to researchers, there are ways to avoid an interaction becoming negative. The study’s videos of coyotes show that they “largely avoid both interactions with people and areas where people are likely to be during the day,” with Michel Kohl, the primary investigator of the project and an associate professor in UGA’s Warnell School saying the animals pose little risk to humans.

Since the start of the program, Wildlife Atlanta said they perform den checks each April for their collared coyotes. During this process, they note what types of areas the coyotes are living in, how many puppies are there, how many of each biological sex and overall health checks are performed.

If a coyote gets too close for you to still be comfortable, UGA said an easy way to make them leave is making loud noises or spraying it with a hose. If you have sprinklers in your yard, turning them on can also help encourage a coyote to leave the area, according to UGA researchers.

The tracking-based research began in 2022 as part of a joint effort with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Urban Wildlife Program, and more directly, Wildlife Atlanta.

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