{"id":907539,"date":"2026-11-06T03:58:11","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T03:58:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/907539\/"},"modified":"2026-11-06T03:58:11","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T03:58:11","slug":"second-coyote-spotted-on-the-worlds-largest-wildlife-crossing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/907539\/","title":{"rendered":"Second coyote spotted on the world’s largest wildlife crossing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The word might be out among Agoura Hills\u2019 coyotes.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, a coyote was spotted on top of the world\u2019s largest wildlife crossing, nearing completion over the 101 Freeway \u2014 the first large mammal documented on the structure itself, the National Park Service announced.<\/p>\n

The milestone comes just eight days after a coyote became the first large mammal spotted venturing up a slope<\/a> leading to the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, which is slated to open Dec. 2. Both instances were recorded on recently installed remote cameras.<\/p>\n

For Beth Pratt of the Wildlife Crossing Fund, the sighting inspired \u201cawe and the feeling of rightness.\u201d <\/p>\n

Research has shown that wildlife in the Santa Monica Mountains are hemmed in by freeways and development. Mountain lions<\/a> in particular are suffering from the effects of inbreeding. The structure is intended to provide safe passage \u2014 and a lifeline.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t have said this even a couple weeks ago, but I now think there\u2019s a chance we\u2019ll have a mountain lion use it before ribbon cutting<\/a>,\u201d said Pratt, who is the public face of the project. \u201cWord gets out in the animal world, so who knows what\u2019s going to happen?\u201d<\/p>\n

Initially, Pratt bet a deer would be first to venture over the crossing. But she called coyotes \u201cbold explorers\u201d and \u201cextroverts,\u201d noting it was perhaps not surprising they\u2019d be the pioneers. Scientists believe the two sightings were of different coyotes, though they aren\u2019t certain.<\/p>\n

When the first coyote was photographed on the southern end of the crossing last week, a steep dropoff between its two overpasses made it impossible to get to the other side. But continued grading and construction soon made it possible for larger animals \u2014 including bobcats, mountain lions and coyotes.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Jeff Sikich, a wildlife biologist with the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area, raced to install six cameras on the crossing itself two days ago.<\/p>\n

Scientists, however, don\u2019t believe this second coyote made a full traverse. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s believed to have come from the Simi Hills, north of the freeway. At 1:30 a.m., one of the cameras captured the animal moving south across the overpass spanning the freeway where more than 300,000 cars pass every day, said Seth Riley, wildlife branch chief for the recreation area, a unit of the National Park Service. <\/p>\n

But three subsequent photos showed the animal heading in the opposite direction, suggesting it had doubled back, he said. By 1:47 a.m., it was at the northern end of the crossing. <\/p>\n

A photo shared in a Facebook post<\/a> shows the coyote walking away from the camera toward vegetation surrounded by a pitch-black sky. It\u2019s carrying something in its mouth \u2014 possibly a bone or a stick.<\/p>\n

Riley said the fact that it spent some 20 minutes up there is a good sign. If it had been spooked by light or noise, he said it wouldn\u2019t hang out that long.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve spent a ton of time and effort and money, not just to build the crossing, but to make it feel as natural as possible,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

A lush landscape of 6,000 native plants sits atop the 101 overpass. An adjacent overpass over Agoura Road, as well as a land bridge still being built between the structures, are currently bare. Planting there won\u2019t start until after the ribbon cutting and certain animals might be less inclined to use areas without the cover it provides, such as bobcats, Riley said.<\/p>\n

Mountain lions prefer cover but Riley doesn\u2019t think they\u2019ll be deterred. Sitting at the top of the food chain, they don\u2019t have much to fear.<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A drone photograph of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing on Oct. 7.<\/p>\n

(Kayla Bartkowski\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n

More ways to get a glimpse are on the way. Eventually more than 50 cameras taking still photos, along with four thermal video cameras, will capture the action on and around the crossing, Sikich said.<\/p>\n

Scientists will use GPS collars to track mountain lions, coyotes, bobcats, deer and gray fox.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re also implanting devices known as biologgers into deer and mountain lions to monitor physiological data including body temperature, heart rate and fat reserves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been spending decades, literally decades, documenting how wildlife has become isolated in the Santa Monica Mountains, and what makes us scientists excited is now we have this opportunity to study what happens when we reconnect it,\u201d Sikich said.<\/p>\n

The stakes are existential for the mountain range\u2019s mountain lions, which are contending with critically low genetic diversity as close relatives mate. They\u2019ve already shown alarming signs of inbreeding, including kinked tails and deformed testicles.<\/p>\n

Scientists say the crossing will let the big cats seek mates in the Simi Hills and beyond \u2014 and allow fresh blood to travel into the Santa Monicas. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen these warning signs happening, so the crossing cannot have come at a better time,\u201d Sikich said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The word might be out among Agoura Hills\u2019 coyotes. On Thursday, a coyote was spotted on top of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":907540,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[379554,15628,8997,185280,275,10740,130384,379555,368584,2354,139223,379553,61251,79,7993,368586,201],"class_list":["post-907539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-animal-world","tag-bobcat","tag-coyote","tag-crossing","tag-day","tag-deer","tag-freeway","tag-jeff-sikich","tag-large-wildlife-crossing","tag-mountain-lion","tag-overpass","tag-remote-camera","tag-santa-monica-mountains","tag-science","tag-scientist","tag-seth-riley","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=907539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/907540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=907539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=907539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=907539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}