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Coyotes Among Us: Secrets of the City’s Top Predator
An eye-opening volume of research and photographs exploring one of North America’s most persistent—and misunderstood—predators.
The coyote. Even its image conjures up more myth than fact. From its depictions as the “trickster” in ancient fables to its portrayal as a threat to humans and their pets in modern news sources, coyotes are rarely shown in a favorable light. Now, the Urban Coyote Research Project pulls back the curtain on the defamed coyote, revealing the surprising truth about this unique creature.
Though harassed and hunted for generations, today the coyote persists and even thrives. With an innate ability to adjust to new climates and environments, the coyote has developed an expansive range. Once confined to the American West, it now lives in forty-nine states, across lower Canada, throughout Mexico, and all the way to Costa Rica. Its habitat ranges from rural prairie to urban overpasses; it is the largest animal to regularly live wild within city limits. The coyote continues to overcome the ceaseless intrusion of urban development to create a bright and flourishing future, providing its human neighbors a surprising number of benefits.
With stunning images of coyotes within their surprising habitats, Coyotes Among Us draws from decades of experience to dispel coyote myths, highlight the benefits of living with coyotes, and embrace the coyote as a brilliant survivor against all odds.
The coyote. Even its image conjures up more myth than fact. From its depictions as the “trickster” in ancient fables to its portrayal as a threat to humans and their pets in modern news sources, coyotes are rarely shown in a favorable light. Now, the Urban Coyote Research Project pulls back the curtain on the defamed coyote, revealing the surprising truth about this unique creature.
Though harassed and hunted for generations, today the coyote persists and even thrives. With an innate ability to adjust to new climates and environments, the coyote has developed an expansive range. Once confined to the American West, it now lives in forty-nine states, across lower Canada, throughout Mexico, and all the way to Costa Rica. Its habitat ranges from rural prairie to urban overpasses; it is the largest animal to regularly live wild within city limits. The coyote continues to overcome the ceaseless intrusion of urban development to create a bright and flourishing future, providing its human neighbors a surprising number of benefits.
With stunning images of coyotes within their surprising habitats, Coyotes Among Us draws from decades of experience to dispel coyote myths, highlight the benefits of living with coyotes, and embrace the coyote as a brilliant survivor against all odds.
- GenresNatureNonfictionAnimals
176 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 13, 2024
13 people are currently reading
1774 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
January 30, 2024
Coyotes are predators, and as such, they can be controversial in some circles. The relationships between humans and predators have always been strained due to human intolerance. However, these animals are the ultimate survivors. The more humans have tried to wipe them out, the better the coyote has adapted. Coyotes are now living in most urban environments in the U.S. In this book, Dr. Stanley Gehrt presents some of the results of the longest urban coyote study. The results are fascinating. This long-running project has enabled scientists to track coyotes throughout their entire lives, in some cases. What they have learned is eye-opening.
I have read other publications by Dr. Gehrt, mostly about raccoons, and the interactions of coyotes with cats in urban environments. But, this is the first full-length book I've read by this author. I am impressed. The book details the lives of urban coyotes in an easy-to-understand format that is accessible to all readers. Coyotes are shown in photos taken throughout the study area, often with interesting urban backdrops to the photos. They truly are amazing animals. They have learned how to live alongside humans and still remain out of sight, for the most part. They find food and survive, raise families, and pass on their genes to new generations, all within sight of humans in a large urban center. The adaptable coyote makes it work. If you have ever wondered about these animals, this book will open your eyes to their complex lives.
Where do coyotes hide to give birth to pups in a city? Where do coyotes find enough food to survive? The study has given scientists answers to these and other questions. In this highly accessible book you can read all about it. I recommend it.
Thanks to the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.
I have read other publications by Dr. Gehrt, mostly about raccoons, and the interactions of coyotes with cats in urban environments. But, this is the first full-length book I've read by this author. I am impressed. The book details the lives of urban coyotes in an easy-to-understand format that is accessible to all readers. Coyotes are shown in photos taken throughout the study area, often with interesting urban backdrops to the photos. They truly are amazing animals. They have learned how to live alongside humans and still remain out of sight, for the most part. They find food and survive, raise families, and pass on their genes to new generations, all within sight of humans in a large urban center. The adaptable coyote makes it work. If you have ever wondered about these animals, this book will open your eyes to their complex lives.
Where do coyotes hide to give birth to pups in a city? Where do coyotes find enough food to survive? The study has given scientists answers to these and other questions. In this highly accessible book you can read all about it. I recommend it.
Thanks to the publisher for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.
December 7, 2023
Before reading this book I knew next to nothing about Coyotes - except someone I follow on the internet's cat stayed out one night in Nevada, and never came home, and she thought perhaps the coyotes got him. She saw this as a lesson in keeping her cat in, not in eradicating coyotes. Anyway, I live in Melbourne, Australia and have also lived in England and Scotland. I've lived with urban foxes, and many possums but not canidae. This book is thorough and engaging. It talks about how to study coyotes and why, as well as why they are important in American urban environments. There is a focus on Chicago, as that's where the authors conducted their research. It's pretty engaging for a book written by research scientists, and the photos are frequent, helpful and also often really cute.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an e-Arc in exchange for an honest review.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me an e-Arc in exchange for an honest review.
April 16, 2024
Fascinating, and well-explained!
June 10, 2024
Educational even though the author tends to repeat himself a lot.
April 28, 2024
a good study of the impact of humans on coyotes
This book explores how coyotes live in urban areas, and how humans impact their behavior. I liked the objective tone of the book. It is reports facts without victimizing either humans or coyotes. I have gained respect for and understanding of coyotes. I better know how to be safe around them.
This book explores how coyotes live in urban areas, and how humans impact their behavior. I liked the objective tone of the book. It is reports facts without victimizing either humans or coyotes. I have gained respect for and understanding of coyotes. I better know how to be safe around them.
April 28, 2024
Very interesting!
Despite the repetition at times, I enjoyed learning more about these elusive canids.
Despite the repetition at times, I enjoyed learning more about these elusive canids.
March 18, 2024
A few times my Ring camera has captured a coyote running on the sidewalk in front of my house. I had previously, watched a PBS special on coyotes in urban areas especially in Chicago. And I had seen the video of a coyote running into a small store near our lakefront, and grabbing a sandwich from a refrigerated case. So I welcomed this easy to read yet scholarly account of what actually has been discovered about this enterprising species. My only complaint is it was too short , I would have enjoyed a few more anecdotes.
Currently reading
January 15, 2024Living in Chicago's suburbs, I see coyotes all the time...jumping neighbors' fences, slinking out of the golf course, or even brazenly grabbing a ham out of the trunk of my car. But I didn't know much about them until I read this book. It's beautiful, with stunning images and surprising insights. I'll never look at coyotes the same. If you're also curious about the natural world - and the creatures we share it with - I highly suggest Coyotes Among Us.
June 17, 2024
Another book passed onto me thus providing me with some nonfiction reads to intersperse some of the other subjects that I have been focusing on lately.
Anyway Coyotes Among Us studies the phenomena of one of North America's most persecuted animals and their expansion out of their normal range as they gravitate into the strange habitat of big cities. The book explores the lifestyle of these animals based on the Chicago population animal subjects while providing insight into behaviors developed specifically to survive this alien world as well as the influences of the city on the coyote as well as vice versa of the coyote's influence on the city. At the same time the reader is taken into the lives of some of the various tagged animals so one may get a glimpse of what it means to be a city coyote.
The book is a bit on the repetitive side as mentioned by other readers while I am not sure if it was done with the fact that some readers may just skip around to parts they may be interested in or they just chose not to clean it up. Furthermore there are also other insert pages that provides the reader with further insight into various animals or other data such as who pronounces coyote which way out of the three pronunciations. To me the insert pages were probably the most interesting information out of the whole book but it didn't feel like they fit just right thus knocking the flow of the rest of the text awry while also sometimes meaning a bit of backtracking in my own reading.
Otherwise the book is provided with lots of brightly colored photographs for readers, especially of baby coyotes, with informative captions to also provide the reader with more information.
All in all it is a fascinating subject and read although not really a surprise to me that coyotes may be living next door since here in my city they are quite known. And furthermore I have also viewed them in Denver during the day about two years ago so I guess it is actually more of an acknowledgment read and one allowing me to learn about the habits of my newest canid neighbor rather than a shocking revelation.
Anyway Coyotes Among Us studies the phenomena of one of North America's most persecuted animals and their expansion out of their normal range as they gravitate into the strange habitat of big cities. The book explores the lifestyle of these animals based on the Chicago population animal subjects while providing insight into behaviors developed specifically to survive this alien world as well as the influences of the city on the coyote as well as vice versa of the coyote's influence on the city. At the same time the reader is taken into the lives of some of the various tagged animals so one may get a glimpse of what it means to be a city coyote.
The book is a bit on the repetitive side as mentioned by other readers while I am not sure if it was done with the fact that some readers may just skip around to parts they may be interested in or they just chose not to clean it up. Furthermore there are also other insert pages that provides the reader with further insight into various animals or other data such as who pronounces coyote which way out of the three pronunciations. To me the insert pages were probably the most interesting information out of the whole book but it didn't feel like they fit just right thus knocking the flow of the rest of the text awry while also sometimes meaning a bit of backtracking in my own reading.
Otherwise the book is provided with lots of brightly colored photographs for readers, especially of baby coyotes, with informative captions to also provide the reader with more information.
All in all it is a fascinating subject and read although not really a surprise to me that coyotes may be living next door since here in my city they are quite known. And furthermore I have also viewed them in Denver during the day about two years ago so I guess it is actually more of an acknowledgment read and one allowing me to learn about the habits of my newest canid neighbor rather than a shocking revelation.
February 19, 2025
Coyotes are the most persecuted wild animal in North America, and yet have spread from west of the Great Lakes in 1900 to all of Eastern North America as far north as central Labrador since then, including into all major cities, and not just suburbia. The increase in cities is mostly since the 1980s for reasons still not well understood. This good-looking and fascinating book is about a 23-year study of coyotes in and around Chicago - the challenges, findings and remaining mysteries. By microchipping pups, tracking collared adults, and isotope analysis of whiskers, a lot has been learned: Coyotes are not all alike - about 12% eat mostly human food, while most subsist mainly on mice and rabbits. Some that are fed (even unintentionally by leaving food outside, including seed spillage from bird feeders that attract rodents) lose their fear of people, which can cause unwanted interaction. Very few cats or dogs are killed by coyotes in the Chicago area. This is mostly because coyotes avoid dogs and people (and skunks), preferring natural areas, while cats avoid areas that coyotes frequent, and stick to backyards. This in turn makes those natural areas safer for birds. Their predation on young deer helps to control that population with its damage to gardens and traffic accidents. They are also the main predator controlling Canada geese numbers (mainly by taking eggs).
Why did coyotes spread so far and so successfully and into cities? Because we provided good coyote habitat with lots of rodents and no wolves, and because they avoid us as much as they can, unless we feed them, accidentally or on purpose. Rail and highway corridors facilitate their movement. Although they do resemble a small (average 30kg) German Shepherd, they have yellow eyes, while the dogs generally have brown eyes. Although our coyotes have some wolf and dog DNA (about 6% each), hybrids are rare. Although maximum lifespan is about 15, the average is less than 2 years in the Chicago area. Excluding deaths due to unknown causes, over half the deaths in the study were due to vehicles. Despite their territoriality, no coyote deaths in the study have been attributed to other coyotes, which is unusual among predators. As is normal in the dog family, they do kill smaller canids (foxes, but rarely dogs because they are usually close to people). There is a lot more in the book about how they did their studies (eg. catching wily animals that avoid humans is difficult), about coyote life stages, diet, personalities and more.
Why did coyotes spread so far and so successfully and into cities? Because we provided good coyote habitat with lots of rodents and no wolves, and because they avoid us as much as they can, unless we feed them, accidentally or on purpose. Rail and highway corridors facilitate their movement. Although they do resemble a small (average 30kg) German Shepherd, they have yellow eyes, while the dogs generally have brown eyes. Although our coyotes have some wolf and dog DNA (about 6% each), hybrids are rare. Although maximum lifespan is about 15, the average is less than 2 years in the Chicago area. Excluding deaths due to unknown causes, over half the deaths in the study were due to vehicles. Despite their territoriality, no coyote deaths in the study have been attributed to other coyotes, which is unusual among predators. As is normal in the dog family, they do kill smaller canids (foxes, but rarely dogs because they are usually close to people). There is a lot more in the book about how they did their studies (eg. catching wily animals that avoid humans is difficult), about coyote life stages, diet, personalities and more.
December 4, 2023
Living in the country, I can’t pretend not to be worried about coyotes hurting my dog or cats. On the other hand, they look like fluffy dogs themselves, so they’re hard to dislike. This short volume is focused on urban coyotes, specifically centered in Chicago and Cook County, and its conclusions are eye-opening. Accompanied by eerily gorgeous photographs, the text explains the results of decades of research trapping, tagging, and releasing these canids, analyzing their diet, and digging through their scat. The results are shocking. Some reinforce the idea that these creatures are wily, others show a completely unexpected side to their personality. The team’s methods are fascinating, and the candid way in which they share their experiences of trial and error, with their funny anecdotes and the heartbreak that studying living creatures sometimes involves; is engrossing. There is very little science, and it is all explained in an approachable way. Despite its limited scope, the book includes some details about other studies conducted in other cities or in rural settings. Mostly, I liked how it’s clear that the authors care about their subjects, while being realistic and scientific. I will never hear coyotes’ howls in the same way again.
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#Girl Friday Productions, Flashpoint!
I chose to read this book and all opinions in this review are my own and completely unbiased. Thank you, #NetGalley/#Girl Friday Productions, Flashpoint!
July 14, 2024
I received this book through Goodreads Giveaways for an honest review.
I found Coyotes Among Us to be a very educational book. It was nice to learn more about coyotes and the research was very well done and thorough. Living near Coyote Valley, I would see coyotes on hikes. I'm less worried now about them attacking me :)
I really enjoyed the stories about specific coyotes.
There was a lot of repetition throughout the whole book though. I feel it could have been edited more maybe?
I loved the beautiful pictures throughout the book.
I found Coyotes Among Us to be a very educational book. It was nice to learn more about coyotes and the research was very well done and thorough. Living near Coyote Valley, I would see coyotes on hikes. I'm less worried now about them attacking me :)
I really enjoyed the stories about specific coyotes.
There was a lot of repetition throughout the whole book though. I feel it could have been edited more maybe?
I loved the beautiful pictures throughout the book.
November 2, 2024
This is a must read for urban wildlife lovers.
The Urban Coyote Research Project’s extensive work in studying coyotes in Chicago is astounding. This book uses years of research to debunk negative myths about coyotes and inspires respect for these amazing creatures, ultimately promoting a healthy coexistence with them. Because they are here to stay. They are our neighbors.
Throughout the book there are absolutely gorgeous photographs as well as anecdotes that are sometimes tragic but always riveting.
The Urban Coyote Research Project’s extensive work in studying coyotes in Chicago is astounding. This book uses years of research to debunk negative myths about coyotes and inspires respect for these amazing creatures, ultimately promoting a healthy coexistence with them. Because they are here to stay. They are our neighbors.
Throughout the book there are absolutely gorgeous photographs as well as anecdotes that are sometimes tragic but always riveting.
July 8, 2024
4 stars
I read a digital copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley.
I read a digital copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley.
This book detailing an urban coyote study is absolutely fascinating. I had no idea that coyotes had not always been native to the northeastern US and had migrated there after 1948. The fact that coyotes are excellent adapters to urban life is astonishing. They have eluded human capture and persecution only to thrive and adapt.
I read a digital copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley.
I read a digital copy courtesy of the publisher and Net Galley.
This book detailing an urban coyote study is absolutely fascinating. I had no idea that coyotes had not always been native to the northeastern US and had migrated there after 1948. The fact that coyotes are excellent adapters to urban life is astonishing. They have eluded human capture and persecution only to thrive and adapt.
May 10, 2024
A well researched, well written book about Chicago and the suburbs misunderstood coyote population. The photographs are excellent, and the author's dedication to present a detailed picture of the coyote is awesome. After encountering coyotes on at least fifty occasions on my walks with my dogs, this book confirms what I basically knew; I have more to worry about from other dogs than coyotes.
May 13, 2024
Quick but interesting read on Dr. Gehrt’s study of urban coyotes in Chicago and a course on all things coyote. Gave me a new appreciation and understanding of these interesting animals. I wonder how close one is to me right now? I will probably never know but am convinced he/she knows where I am at this very moment.
December 16, 2024
We love hear the coyote chorus from time to time. A reminder that they really are among us.
This book was a quick read but conveyed so much information. Great pictures (mostly taken with trail cams so not great quality but great in what they captured) and the author's fascination and appreciation for coyotes came through clearly.
This book was a quick read but conveyed so much information. Great pictures (mostly taken with trail cams so not great quality but great in what they captured) and the author's fascination and appreciation for coyotes came through clearly.
May 4, 2025
Coyotes live in every major metropolitan area, and the author has been studying these populations, particularly in Chicago, for 20+ years. The book covers why coyotes live in cities, and how they thrive, as well as reasons and solutions for conflicts.
I recommend this book for anyone who would like to learn more about the coyotes that live all around us.
I recommend this book for anyone who would like to learn more about the coyotes that live all around us.
June 5, 2025
A very informative book that mostly focuses on coyotes in the Chicago area. It provides a wealth of knowledge on urban coyotes, while dispelling myths about the animals with research over several years! There are times when it gets repetitive, but some of those points are worth repeating to reinforce.
May 25, 2024
I am an urban wildlife enthusiast and coyotes are one of the most fascinating. This book was so interesting and almost shocking about the habits of Chicagoland Coyotes. I'm sorry to everyone who will have to listen to me to talk about coyotes now for the next month but I can't help it.
July 13, 2024
Fascinating book, beautiful photos, good detail especially later in the book, interesting case examples, nice overview of the findings of their research mixed with practical information. It does get a bit repetitive, but since it’s so short, it doesn’t get too bad
September 9, 2024
Excellent descriptions of studies done about lives of coyotes, particularly in Cook County, Illinois, USA.
I am fond of the animals and the photos were lovely ( except for one of a vehicle encounter-though not bloody). Coyotes are here to stay!
I am fond of the animals and the photos were lovely ( except for one of a vehicle encounter-though not bloody). Coyotes are here to stay!
March 27, 2024
Did anyone else's book smell like dirt or mildew?
June 4, 2024
This is THE book to read to learn about urban coyotes. It is perfect.
October 17, 2024
Coyote Chicago!
October 28, 2024
A very interesting book. Easy to read but so much information I did not know.
December 26, 2025
I choose this book for our park book club after hearing Stan speak on the subject at a wildlife conference. It is a great book to learn more about coyotes and it gave us a lot to discuss. The book follows Stan Gehrts research of urban coyotes in Chicago. Stan does a great job of explaining his research and what has been learned from tracking this secretive predator over many years. While Stan does tend to repeat himself throughout the book, I think it really shines a light on the unknown world of these often misunderstood animals. Stan himself was surprised by some of the things they discovered. A good book that was overall very educational and easy to follow for my book club readers. Some said it was one of their favorites of the year.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews