The coyote was fatally struck near North Avenue and Lake Shore Drive. View Full Caption Shutterstock

CHICAGO — Monday morning's commute into Chicago on Lake Shore Drive had a strange twist — a dead coyote snarling traffic.

The wild animal was hit by a car and killed around 6:40 a.m. Monday near North Avenue, said Officer Amina Greer, a Chicago Police spokeswoman.

The driver kept going, leaving the coyote in one of the center lanes. City services later came out to remove the dead coyote, which immediately began causing long backups on southbound Lake Shore Drive.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Streets and Sanitation said they received complaints around 9 a.m. Monday and were heading to the scene.

The coyote's fate was a case of bad luck, said Stan Gehrt, a professor at Ohio State University who has been studying coyotes around Chicago for 15 years.

Coyotes have adapted well to city life in Chicago and have learned to look both ways before crossing streets.

But, eventually, "the odds catch up to them," he said.

"When you have to cross as many roads as they do, eventually they miscalculate and get hit by a car," he said. "It's just bad luck, just like with humans."

Gehrt has been studying one female coyote who lives in Lincoln Park, Coyote 441, since 2010.

Compared to suburban coyotes, city coyotes have much larger territories, and with the density of the city, Coyote 441 will cross as many as 50 or 60 streets and roads per night, Gehrt said.

He did not know Monday morning whether it was 441 that was hit.

"We do have many other coyotes that go on about their business, and they never end up getting hit and die from natural causes," he said.

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