School and Group Programs
Coyote Monitoring
From a safe distance, students observe coyotes during the winter months to determine if the animals are behaving naturally or begging for food from people.
- When food is scarce, coyotes travel along roadsides to feed on animals that have been killed by cars in Yosemite Valley. They also forage in valley meadows. Some park visitors offer food to hungry coyotes to lure them closer for photographs, teaching them to approach people.
- Students assist Yosemite National Park wildlife managers by documenting the location of begging coyotes so that park staff can respond to the problem. Figure 1 shows their findings for 2004 and 2005.
- Coyotes that are observed begging are later marked with paint by Yosemite National Park wildlife managers to help them track their behavior.
Figure 1: Students' coyote monitoring results, 2004-2005
