EDMONTON—The garbage Edmonton’s street-scavenging coyotes are eating might be making them more aggressive, research examining their gut bacteria being done by the University of Alberta suggests.

Scott Sugden, who was the lead master’s student at U of A conducting the research — which he presented as his thesis project in May — said after cutting open the intestines of 76 coyotes to determine what urban coyotes were eating and how their diets and digestive tract microbiomes compared to their rural counterparts, he found urban coyotes had less fusobacteria in their digestive systems. A reduction in fusobacteria has been loosely correlated with increased aggression in domestic dogs.

For his study, Sugden looked at the gut microbiomes and overall health of 76 dead Edmonton-area coyotes supplied to him by fur trappers, as road kill collected by Animal Care and Control, as well as a few problem coyotes killed by police in Edmonton.

“Urban coyotes, generally, seemed less healthy,” said Sugden, adding indicators like a reduced amount of fat on their kidneys as well as enlarged spleens suggest they had poorer nutrition and that their immune systems were under greater stress.

Sugden said rural coyotes had much more protein-rich diets from eating more small rodents and scavenging deer, and had correlating higher levels of fusobacteria.

In the stomachs of city-bound coyotes, Sugden said he found “all sorts of exciting things” — including a leather glove, Tim Hortons wrappers, pineapple, and a full-sized wrapped burrito.

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“We know from humans, primarily, that what we eat affects the bacteria that live in our stomach, and what kind of bacteria live in our stomach or intestines have all sorts of implications for our immune system and other aspects of health,” Sugden said.

While the coyotes Sugden studied were dead, meaning he could not directly observe their behaviour in life, ongoing research being done by the university into the behaviour of urban coyotes in Edmonton using video and live traps could further the link between what coyotes are eating and how they behave.

Sugden said studying how environmental changes affect the gut flora in various species could allow conservationists to tackle a host of health and behavioural issues “without having to focus on each one individually.”

“If you manage for the microbiome, you can kind of hit all of those bases together,” Sugden said.

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While coyote sightings in Edmonton are common, serious run-ins with people are rare. According to research from the University of Calgary, less than three Canadians per year are bitten or scratched by a coyote.

Attacks on pets are more common, with a large dog killed in Edmonton by coyotes in 2018. A coyote implicated in that attack and killed by local police was part of Sugden’s study.

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