"The coyotes learn from us. They learn areas to avoid, certain traps to avoid, so then we have to adjust to them. So it's a constant game, if you will, between them and us. So we're constantly working on that as well."

Urban coyotes have also learned where the easiest food sources are - uncovered garbage cans and small pets left outside at night.

Gehrt says that means people need to change some of their behaviors. "I'm not telling people that they need to learn to live with coyotes because I have an affinity for coyotes and they're really neat animals, it's just simply the position they have put us in."

While living with wildlife in the backyard may pose some minor lifestyle changes for urban dwellers, both Gehrt and Lambert stress that coyotes provide an important service.

"They do have a place in our ecosystem. They can kill and take out the sick and the weak of other animals, they clean up carcasses," says Lambert. "There was a study done at Wolf Park years ago that found that one coyote, if only eating mice, can eat over 10,000 mice in a year."

As coyote sightings are reported from south Florida to Washington D.C. to California, Stan Gehrt emphasizes that these wild dogs are now in every major U.S. metropolitan area.

He's eager to see if the findings of his Urban Coyote Project hold true throughout the country. He says it's important that everyone is aware of these creatures, because whether we like it or not, coyotes are here to stay.