UW UrbanCanidProject

We are on iNaturalist! Follow the link to report any fox/coyote sightings in Madison! #uwfoxes #urbanwildlife #citsci inaturalist.org/projects/uw-ur…

Don’t call it a comeback! After over a month of waiting for activity on our bait, we GOT ONE. Thursday morning we caught this beautiful male red fox, outfitted it with a tracking collar, and sent it on its way!

Take 20sec to watch snow fall on a fox. Deep breath. Let those shoulders drop friend.

Have you ever seen a coyote den? While we'd bet that some of you have, these canids are very good at concealing their homes. They'll utilize wooded patches of parks, culverts, golf courses, underpasses, digging multiple entrances/exits and multiple dens to avoid detection.

We’re back! To kick things off we wanted to share a paper that was published this summer. By looking at the diets of ancient foxes, researchers discovered that humans have influenced their diet as far back as 42,000 years ago! journals.plos.org/plosone/articl…

#FunFactFriday We all may know that media influences how we perceive things. Researchers at @UW_LSC and @UWCanidProject examined how media may influence public attitudes toward urban foxes and coyotes in Madison. Read about the results here: lsc.wisc.edu/2020/06/03/res…

The @wildlifesociety UIUC student chapter a great time last weekend with @CarnivoreLab and @Morgan_Farmer19 setting up red fox live traps with @UWCanidProject ! The foxes evaded us for now, but we'll get 'em next time🦊Got in some bonus telemetry work too!

@papamoon92 Not terribly worried, no! We trap exclusively in urban areas, so these animals are already inundated with human scent, and they seem to actually seek it out to take advantage of food sources. We’ve been able to catch animals consistently in traps set with and without gloves.

@UWCanidProject Cool video! Don’t mean to coach from the couch, but I’m surprised as heck that you’re touching that bare handed. Not worried about scent?

Hey folks! Sorry we’ve been so quiet! We’ve hit a bit of a dry spell trapping-wise, so we thought we’d give you the inside scoop on how we set traps and how they work. Check it out!

We want to take a minute to welcome our newest team member! This is @Morgan_Farmer19 and she has joined the project as a PhD student! She has coyotes on the brain about 90% of the time and studied them in both her undergrad and masters. Give her a warm welcome, team!

@gabbspalomo We are required by law to check traps every 24 hours. So one of us is up at the crack of dawn every day to check each trap. If we aren’t able to check them or if the temperature drops too low, we close them down temporarily. It’s all about animal welfare!

Time to test your tracking skills! Here are six tracks that can be found in the state of Wisconsin - five of which can be found in Madison. Who can name all six?!

@LangurLover 1. Coyotes 2. Red fox 3. Gray fox 4. Coyotes 5. Coyotes

@AlHendiify Coyote Ugly. Rude name. Not even one coyote in the whole thing.

*BOING* Here's a majestic shot of one of our collared coyotes bounding across a narrow channel on the western edge of Gardner Marsh at the UW-Madison Arboretum! This candid photo was taken by one of two Snapshot Wisconsin cameras located at the Arboretum.

Clomped through some fresh snow this morning to find a nice surprise! We got a fox! A feisty female in great condition. We outfitted her with a new GPS collar, took some samples, made sure she was healthy, and sent her on her way. It was a great morning!

@biologistimo Close proximity with coyote poop (and urine for that matter) can induce altered states of mind. 😷

If you think animal poop smells bad, just wait till you smell animal poop after its been digested by another animal. PSA: my dog eats horse poop.

The Odana Golf Course coyote that we captured a few weeks back was caught today over 2 miles from her original capture site! Her GPS collar hasn’t been working properly so we got her a new one and we’ll now be able to receive data from her each night! #urbanwildlife #urbancanids

Happy Holidays from the UW Urban Canid Project!! We are thankful for all of your support! 🎄

It was great to have you, Ilanah!

Good news about the Odana Golf Course coyote! A neighbor saw her in his yard and thought she was acting odd, but she was actually (successfully) hunting a rabbit right there in his backyard! More proof that her injury not impacting her ability to survive. She’s one tough cookie!