As part of recent efforts to better understand how coyotes survive in urbanized areas, National Park Service researchers recently began tracking a coyote in the Northeast Los Angeles area near the L.A. River.

Researchers are gaining a better understanding of how coyotes survive in the urban environment by monitoring the animals in Los Angeles. (photo courtesy of NPS)

The young female, approximately seven to nine months old, is known as C-146 because she is the 146th coyote tracked as part of the National Park Service study, though only the third in the urban center of Los Angeles. The coyote was captured on Sept. 23, outfitted with a GPS collar and released.

“We’re very interested to learn how this animal is using the Los Angeles River,” said Justin Brown, a biologist with Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. “So far, all of her recorded GPS locations have been confined to a two mile or so stretch on both sides of the river.”

The animal’s collar is programmed to record an average of eight GPS locations over a 24-hour period. Brown believes C-146 is from a pack of at least five coyotes – three juveniles and two adults – that was captured on camera together in early September.

As a juvenile, the animal will provide insight into how long young coyotes in the area stay with their parents and what routes young animals may take to disperse and find their own territories.

Although National Park Service researchers studied coyotes from 1996 to 2004 in parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties, they only began studying urban Los Angeles coyotes in May.

As for the other two animals in the pilot project, researchers continue to track the coyote in Silver Lake known as C-145, but the battery in C-144’s collar recently failed.

C-144, which spent most of its time just west of downtown Los Angeles, is believed to have one of the most urban home ranges of any coyote ever studied and had recently made some interesting movements to the west.

For information, visit www.nps.gov.