It was an unusually sunny spring day in Seattle when I arrived at Discovery Park to hike with Sam and Yasmine—two energetic, young urban wildlife ecologists from the University of Washington. I was a bit early for our meeting, so I decided to wander down one of the many trails and do a little exploring.
Native trees and shrubs lined the trail, wildflowers were in bloom, and bird song filled the air. I watched a white-crowned sparrow hop from shrub to shrub and branch to branch, as light filtered through the canopy. It was a peaceful and pleasant ramble. You could almost get lost in nature’s spectacle if it were not for the other visitors that shuffled by at regular intervals.
That is the thing with urban parks, they are sort of a mixed bag—both a respite for wildlife and a central hub of activity for the populous. Often, they are the only way many people can access wild space. But just how wild are these spaces? And what becomes of the wildlife that call the “urban jungle” home?
Shortly after returning to our meeting spot in front of the visitor center, Sam joined me with her dog Sequoia, in tow. Yasmine arrived only a few minutes later. Quick introductions and an exchange of M&Ms between friends, and we were off on the trail.
The Hike
- Trailhead: Discovery Park Visitor Center
- Distance: approximately 3 miles (12 miles of trails)
- Elevation Gain: unknown (varies)
- Details: There is ample parking at the trailhead and several routes to choose from. When the visitor center is open it has restrooms, informational displays, and maps.
Youthful Indiscretions
Both Sam and Yasmine grew up in urban areas—Sam outside of San Francisco and Yasmine just outside of DC. During their youth they also both spent a lot of time outdoors.
“I was always obsessed with animals and being outside,” said Sam about her childhood. “I was that nerdy kid in the classroom reading animal encyclopedias….” she went on.
“I got lyme disease a couple of times because I was always running out into the woods,” Yasmine shared.
Urban Wildlife Ecologist
Both were also pulled toward urban wildlife.
Sam recalled the area she grew up— “I was amazed by how much wildlife is there.” This realization coupled with opportunities to get involved in research at the undergraduate level helped direct her academic future.
Now Sam is in her first year as a Ph.D. student at the University of Washington studying Seattle’s coyote population.
“I look for coyote scat,” she said bluntly. “There are supposedly coyotes all over Seattle, but I have yet to see one. I have found their poop in some places through.”
Yasmine, on the other hand, started her academic career pursuing vet school. Like Sam, however, she got involved in undergraduate research—studying invasive fish in the Chesapeake watershed. She worked on a variety of projects but ultimately kept coming back to urban wildlife.
Yasmine is now in the early stages of her Ph.D. program. “I am still figuring it out,” she explained. “I am going to be collecting carcasses to look at urban wildlife health,” she went on—to look for parasites, viruses, and assess their overall condition. She plans to source coyote carcasses from the USDA and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Control Operations. As she put it—she will be “recycling” carcasses—giving them a new purpose.
Human Discovery
I followed Sam and Yasmine along a well-established trail, passing by both native plantings, grassy knolls, and large swaths of invasive species. While we walked, Yasmine shared a bit about Discovery Park’s history.
“It was used by a lot of tribes for thousands of years,” she began.
“And then it became a military base, and all of this became raised for horse pastures and hundreds of buildings at its prime, like 80 years ago,” Yasmine gestured around. Finally, in the 1970s it was repurposed as a park and restoration work became.
It is an “earlier succession park,” according to Yasmine, as it was planted only in the last 50 years and it is still undergoing active restoration.
Sam piped in with the size of the park—”534 acres.” That is a nice chunk of real estate for urban wildlife.
Scoop the Poop
As we continued past a few buildings and through pockets of forest along the trail, I asked Sam to elaborate on the scat project.
“I have only collected a couple of scat,” said Sam. “Our main push for scat collection will be this summer.” She explained how there was some concern about the quality of scat collected in the winter with all the rainfall in Seattle. But she was able to get some good quality data from the few she collected.
Now you might be thinking, why scat? Why study excrement? Choosing to study something like scat, begs the question— “Why?” I asked Sam
Sam explained how her work is in collaboration with Woodland Park Zoo and Robert Long who is a proponent for non-invasive carnivore survey techniques. You don’t have to handle an animal to learn all about it. The idea of non-invasive techniques is that you can learn a lot without interacting directly with the animals you are studying, thus reducing potential unintended stress or harm. “I think it is really cool,” Sam exclaimed.
Plus, there is a lot to learn! Sam swabs the outside of the scat to “identify the coyote that pooped the poop,” as she put it most eloquently. Then the inside of the scat sample is swabbed and analyzed to determine what it consumed. “I will be doing everything genetically,” said Sam. However, according to Sam, you can determine a lot about the animals’ diet by manually going through it and looking at the hairs embedded in the undigested remains.
Why care?
Our eyes peeled to the ground, Sam, Yasmine, and I continued to scout the area, dreams of big piles of poo dancing through our heads. As we walked, I asked Sam and Yasmine to tell me more about urban wildlife and why someone should care about keeping tabs on the urban jungle.
Yasmine spoke up first “It is beneficial for us and to them to learn how to coexist,” she stated because “they are here anyway.”
If we understand urban wildlife better, we can learn how to respond to their presence and develop management techniques that make sense.
She went onto discuss, as she put it, “the disease angle.” “A lot of these animals are vectors for disease,” she explained. “How can we ensure they have enough space, so they don’t end up in human spaces?” Therefore, it is important to understand what makes urban wildlife tick; “so, they don’t pass a disease on to our pets or kids or something.”
Clever Coyotes
Even if people wanted to eliminate coyotes from urban environments, which I believe Sam and Yasmine would argue is a mistake, it would be very difficult to accomplish.
“They are very adaptable,” shared Sam. “When you remove coyotes it creates a vacuum that coyotes will go fill… They have density-dependent fecundity.” Meaning, if you reduce the populations, coyotes simply produce more offspring.
Yasmine agreed in Sam’s assessment. “They really thrive in so many different cities in ways other animals don’t,” said Yasmine. Sharing how during the first coyote project she worked on she found coyote using railroads and living in trainyards. It “blew my mind,” said Yasmine.
Cool Coyotes
After walking past several viewpoints along the trail, I asked Sam and Yasmine if they knew of any other “cool coyote facts?”
“They are the top predator in Seattle,” responded Yasmine. They suppress many other meso-carnivore species, like skunks, raccoons, opossum, and foxes. This can, in turn, boost overall biodiversity and ecosystem functioning by allowing prey of smaller predatory species to survive.
And what about people? The jury is still out. Yasmine explained that you will find papers saying opposite things when it comes to how coyotes respond to people. “It seems to vary by city,” said Yasmine. In some places, it seems they avoid people spatially, while others say they don’t mind being in the same space but will avoid people temporally. Either way, they don’t like us very much.
Of course, there is still much to learn about coyote and how they interact within their community. They are part of a “messy web,” said Yasmine.
Coyote Threats
So, with everything seemingly going well for coyote in urban environments, I asked Sam and Yasmine if there are any threats that coyote face. Yasmine had mentioned parasites and diseases as part of her research project. Is there something out there wiping out coyote populations?
The short answer seems to be no. But Yasmine did share a few threats that coyotes face.
“The first thing that comes to mind is mange,” responded Yasmine. Caused by parasitic mites, mange is a problem for coyotes that live in colder climates. Infected animals will scratch themselves too much, so that they lose their fur, leaving them susceptible to the elements.
Environmental toxins are another challenge. Led and arsenic are also potentially problematic to coyotes. As well as anticoagulant rodenticides. These chemicals have the potential to bioaccumulate or build-up, in the tissue of animals. They can also be biomagnified (increase) through the food chain, such that predators, like coyotes, face the brunt of the toxic effects as they consume prey riddled with toxins.
Food for Thought
At this point, we followed the road down to the beach. We passed by stands of stinging nettle and Yasmine shared her favorite ways to harvest and prepare stinging nettle by blanching and sautéing it. All this talk of food, of course, got me interested in learning more about Sam’s project.
“What do coyote eat?” I asked.
Though DNA analysis of the collected scat has not started, Sam told me that there is a lot that can be discovered by simply looking at the scat. As far as Sam has seen from samples found at one site, coyotes are eating rabbits and snakes, but also candy bars. Just like bone and fur are preserved in the scat of coyotes, so are wrappers and other pieces of plastic.
Additionally, a good deal of research has already been done on the coyote diet. And findings are incredibly variable. Sam explained that what coyote eat “depends on where you are and the time of year.” At one location in the North East, for example, the coyote diet was “80% berries at one point,” said Sam. Cities teeming with black rats, roof rats, and eastern cottontail are prevalent sources of food—all invasive species.
Finally, Sam said that household cats do not appear to be a regular part of coyote diets, despite what some would believe. Though one site in Los Angeles may be an exception.
Scoop the Poop Reprise
I was not “dung” with this line of questioning, however, and I asked Sam if she knew from her research how many coyotes inhabit the Seattle area?
Though she didn’t know offhand, Sam shared how the scat she was gathering—using a technique called “mark and recapture”—could also be used to determine population size.
The outer coating on each sample of scat contains epithelial gut cells that can be genetically identified down to an individual. As Sam put it, we know “exactly which individual pooped the poop.” With enough sampling, some individuals are likely to be “recaptured,” or identified a second time. It is the recapture data along with the initial captures that allow scientists to estimate population size.
This begs the question—how hard is it to collect samples? According to Sam, it is as easy as picking up your own pet’s waste—only she uses two Ziplock bags while collecting.
Down by the Sea
As we marveled at the amazing advancements in DNA analysis, Sam, Yasmine, and I made our way down to the beach. Sam’s dog Sequoia led the way down to the water. The tide was unusually low, so we decided to walk the shoreline for a while, dodging sea anemone and other critters that lie underfoot.
We talked about grad school, tutoring, and hiking in the Pacific Northwest, among other topics, including scat, as we walked the beach.
“One of the coolest coyote scats I have ever seen was on the Strait of Juan de Fuca on the Olympic peninsula,” shared Yasmine at one point. “There was one on the rocks in the tidepool. There were crabs and mussel shells in the scat!”
Unfortunately, our beach adventure did not turn up any such gems.
Social Structure
It did, however, turn up some juicy gossip on coyote social structure. Coyotes, according to Sam, live in family groups, but often act independently. “It is thought to be one of the reasons for their success,” explained Sam. The flexible groupings allow them to hunt in groups when it is advantageous, or head out on solo or couple adventures.
In addition, coyotes maintain territories that vary in size depending on how much food is available. Territories are defended by members of the family groups or packs.
Coyote Careers
After soaking in some sun, Sam, Yasmine, and I headed back uphill to continue our search for scat. We entered a large field/lawn area that looked promising. But sadly, our efforts were not rewarded. Still, no sign of coyote, though we did hear sea lions barking in the distance.
Feeling a bit defeated, but still hopeful, we continued uphill, our senses on high alert. I wondered what Sam and Yasmine felt about their chosen line of research. I asked what advice they might give to the next generation of wildlife ecologists.
Sam was first to respond. She explained how working in wildlife ecology is “not like what you see in National Geographic.” A lot of opportunities to study wildlife ecology are non-invasive and local. Many international jobs can be exploitive and/or very competitive. She recommended: “Know what you are interested in ecologically.”
Yasmine added, “You need to be flexible…build your own way.”
“More and more the field is becoming collaborative,” added Sam. “Getting involved in projects is a good start.”
Citizen Science
Getting involved does not have to start with graduate school! Citizen science projects in urban wildlife and other sciences are becoming more popular. Since our hike, Sam and her collaborators have launched the Seattle Coyote Study website where people can sign up to help collect coyote scat for the project. Volunteering is easy, fun, and flexible, as participants choose when they go out and how often. Check it out at seattlecoyotestudy.wix.com/seattlecoyotestudy.
Eyes on the Prize
Around this point, we saw a used dog poop bag plopped on the side of the path. Not the sign of life we were looking for, even if it was technically scat.
Our hunt turning up nothing but domestic dog poo, I asked the duo what other signs of wildlife might be fun to look for in an urban setting. There has got to be something better than this!
“Deer sign is one the easiest things to look for,” said Yasmine. In some places, you can see a clear browse line. In other places, it is harder to detect but are still able to find signs of browse on individual plants.
Sam and Yasmine both agreed that tracks are also a lot of fun to look for, especially in the mud or snow. “When mud has that glaze,” said Sam, “it preserved prints perfectly!”
“And then if you are into birds, listening and looking for birds,” said Yasmine is a great way to connect with urban wildlife. She admitted she has never been that “into birds,” but has grown a greater appreciation for the birds in her neighborhood recently.
“It is amazing the diversity of birds in an urban area,” added Sam. “I was walking around my neighborhood and there was a pileated woodpecker on a telephone pole!” A rare site indeed!
Leaving a Mark
Eventually, Sam, Yasmine, and I made it back to the parking lot. Having completed our loop, we had not turned up a single sample of scat for Sam’s research. Defeated but not down, we said our energetic goodbyes and parted ways.
Upon reflection, though I did not find what I was looking for per se, I found something far greater. Spending time with Sam and Yasmine—their young enthusiasm for research and science—was hopeful and invigorating. There is a lot of good, thoughtful science happening, right now! It might go undetected much of the time. It might even be ignored. But like coyotes in Seattle, the signs are there. You just got to keep looking.
Samantha (Sam) Kreling and Yasmine Hentanti are both Ph.D. students studying urban wildlife at the University of Washington. Sam has a B.S. in Molecular Environmental Biology from the University of California Berkeley and Yasmine has a B.S. in Wildlife Ecology & Management from the University of Maryland.