Home range, habitat use, and nocturnal activity of coyotes in an urban environment

Coyotes (Canis latrans) are common residents of many urban areas in North A merica, but little is known about how they have adapted to Urbanization. Wi th increasing urban sprawl, it is important to understand how and why anima ls are using urban landscapes. We studied radiocollared coyotes in Tucson, Arizona, USA, from October 1996 to December 1998 to determine home range si ze, habitat use, and nocturnal movement patterns in 7 habitat patch types: natural, commercial, parks, vacant, residential, washes, and roads. Home ra nges of resident coyotes averaged 12.6 km(2) (range = 1.7 to 59.7 km(2)). H ome ranges encompassed a smaller portion of natural patches and a larger pr oportion of park and residential areas than were available in the Study are a. Coyotes used habitat patch types within the home ranges in proportion to their availability except during the dispersal season, when coyotes select ed natural areas and washes and avoided park and residential areas. We used radiolocation data from 120 nighttime observation sessions of 11 animals t o determine nocturnal movement patterns. Rates of movement peaked at 2300 a nd 0500 hr. Rates of movement did not differ among habitat patch types. Ind ividuals moved minimum distances of 1.3 to 6.2 km during the night. Coyotes were most active at night from 2200 to 2400 hr. Disturbances associated wi th urbanization are multi-scaled and widespread: therefore, wildlife biolog ists and managers should study habitat use by urban, wildlife at multiple s cales.