A two-year research project that examined coyote droppings in urban areas in an effort to find out what the animals eat is culminating with a “scat party” on Saturday.
“Volunteers will dissect the final samples and then celebrate their participation in the project with tacos,” according to the a news release from the National Park Service
During the study, 3,200 scat samples were collected in urban areas of Los Angeles, including, Beverly Hills, Boyle Heights, Westlake and Lincoln Heights.
Droppings were also collected in the suburbs of the Conejo Valley and nearby natural habitats in an effort to compare diets.
The study aimed to answer what urban coyotes eat compared to “their suburban cousins,” officials said.
So far, the volunteers have discovered that coyotes in Los Angeles eat fruits from ornamental trees, rabbits, insects, cats, pocket gophers as well as human foods that were not properly disposed.
The volunteers collected the scat, separated insect parts from animal parts and plant parts from the human related materials. Biologists examined and identified the items in the scat and those findings were put in a database.
The final results of the study will be analyzed in the next few weeks and will eventually be published this year, officials said.
A final “scat party” will be held at the Audubon at Debs Park, 4700 Griffin Ave., in Montecito Heights on Saturday beginning at 10 a.m. Reservations are encouraged but not required, officials said.