USC’s newest campus guest isn’t a keynote speaker, famous athlete, or up-and-coming politician, but a wild coyote.
First reported by on-campus newspaper The Daily Trojan on Feb. 5, the animal has been fleetingly seen throughout the center of campus in the past week.
Additional documented sightings of the coyote have been recorded on Feb. 10, 12 and 13.
USC, alongside its neighbor Exposition Park, are no strangers to deeply integrated urban wildlife. The area plays host to a variety of critters including raccoons, possums, cats, squirrels and skunks among other animals.
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While this is the first coyote sighting in recent years within University Park, it certainly isn’t the only one in urban sections of Los Angeles.
“To a lot of people's surprise, there are coyotes deep within LA's urban core, and they've been there for a long time,” said Miguel Ordeñana, an environmental educator and wildlife biologist at the Natural History Museum Los Angeles.
“I found them in parks that I monitor south of USC, north of USC, and, yeah, they're just out there,” he said in an interview with NBCLA. “If there's a vacant lot, for instance, which there are a lot of within urban parts of urban neighborhoods, they'll take advantage of that.
“A lot of people associate just seeing them on their Ring door cameras as like, all of a sudden they're invading these neighborhoods. No, it's just all of a sudden we all have these cameras and we have social media groups that are making them seem more present and more active when they've been this active before.”
Ordeñana noted Augustus Hawkins Nature Park, South Los Angeles Wetlands, Magic Johnson Park, and the West Adams area all have documented coyote sightings.
Shrinking habitats, notably the recent Eaton and Palisades wildfires, also play a small role with coyotes migration towards urban centers.
“The impacts of the fire could kind of be long lasting, and territory or range shifts of these populations might change over time,” Ordeñana said. “As new packs start and young individuals start to disperse and there isn't any suitable habitat because of the fire, they will potentially use new areas that they haven't before, and that might include areas right on the edge of urban habitat or in the middle of urban habitat.”
Ordeñana emphasized that coyotes are omnivorous, not just carnivores. Leaving garbage, open food, or excess fruit from household gardens exposed can all attract coyotes. If a coyote finds what it considers a reliable food source, it may stay in the area.
Associating humans with danger early when coyotes are spotted is also critical to peaceful coexistence Ordeñana mentioned.
“It's always a good idea just to make sure that you're a safe distance away and make a lot of noise and make it associate people with danger, so that it doesn't become comfortable eventually or pass that kind of behavior on to its pups,” he said.
