Stanley Gehrt

Associate Professor & Wildlife Extension Specialist I Agricultural and Environmental Sciences The Ohio State University

  • Columbus OH

Dr. Stanley Gehrt operates within the School of Environment and Natural Resources in the Terrestrial Wildlife Ecology Laboratory.

Contact

The Ohio State University

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Biography

Dr. Stan Gehrt is the Principal Investigator of the Cook County Coyote Project, having initiated the study in 2000. As Chair of the Center for Wildlife Research at the Max McGraw Wildlife Foundation, he directs a variety of research projects both at the Foundation and around the country. Dr. Gehrt continues to supervise many daily aspects of the project while working full-time as an Associate Professor and Extension specialist at The Ohio State University. He is regarded as an international expert of urban wildlife and his research has been featured in numerous print, radio, and television outlets. Dr. Gehrt is the senior editor of the volume ‘Urban Carnivores’ published by Johns Hopkins University Press. Research interests focus on various aspects of mammalian ecology, especially in urban systems, and dynamics of wildlife disease.

Industry Expertise

Education/Learning
Research

Areas of Expertise

Wildlife Conservation
Wildlife Research
Urban Wildlife
Mammalian Ecology
Wildlife Disease

Education

University of Missouri

Ph.D.

Fisheries and Wildlife

Emporia State

M.A.

Biology

Bethany College

B.A.

Biology

Media Appearances

Hunters Sought to Reduce Ohio’s Coyote Population

The Columbus Dispatch  

2017-01-15

Coyote mating season from January through March — at its peak in February — makes hormone-filled males more aggressive and more defensive. Coyote attacks on large dogs are generally rare, but the chances of attacks are greater during this time of year, said Stan Gehrt, an Ohio State University professor who researches coyotes in urban environments...

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Coyotes: Phantoms of The Urban Landscape

Evanston Round Table  

2016-11-02

“There is nowhere you can live in the Chicago area and not have coyotes in your neighborhood,” says Mr. Anchor. “They have learned to occupy habitat and re-exploit resources in and amongst the third largest metropolitan area.” Anywhere from 1,500 to 2,000 coyotes inhabit Cook County, according to the Urban Coyote Research Program, a long-term study of Chicago area coyotes initiated in 2000 by Stan Gehrt, PhD, a wildlife biologist and associate professor at Ohio State University. Mr. Anchor has been contributing his wildlife expertise to Urban Coyote Research since its inception...

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How Wild Animals Are Hacking Life in the City

National Geographic  

2016-04-18

It’s no surprise—with at least 400,000 killed annually, "there's no other species that has experienced the level of persecution that we've posed toward coyotes," says Stan Gehrt, a wildlife ecologist at Ohio State University in Columbus who, along with his grad students, has been studying Chicago’s coyotes since 2000.

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Recent Research

In the City, Coyotes Know to Look Before Crossing the Street

The Ohio State University

2014-10-28

Stan Gehrt, a wildlife ecologist at The Ohio State University, has videotaped an urban-dwelling coyote glancing in the direction of oncoming traffic before crossing Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago. It helps that she waited until dark – that’s one way coyotes have adapted to safely cross streets in cities, by moving only at night, when there are fewer cars on the road.

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Feral Cats Avoid Urban Coyotes, Are Surprisingly Healthy

The Ohio State University

2013-11-13

“Free-roaming cats are basically partitioning their use of the urban landscape. They’re not using the natural areas in cities very much because of the coyote presence there,” said the study’s lead author, Stan Gehrt, associate professor of environment and natural resources at The Ohio State University.

“It reduces the cats’ vulnerability to coyotes, but at the same time, it means the coyotes are essentially protecting these natural areas from cat predation,” he said...

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Urban Coyotes Could be Setting the Stage for Larger Carnivores to Move Into Cities

The Ohio State University

2012-10-05

“That’s an indication that they don’t have to go far to find food and water. They’re finding everything they need right there, in the suburbs of Chicago,” said Stan Gehrt, an associate professor of environment and natural resources at Ohio State University who has led the tracking of coyotes around Chicago for 12 years. “It amazes me.”...

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