![]() St. Louis Wildlife Project Many urban-adapted mammals live throughout St. Louis, including at the national park. Animals who do well in urban environments are sometimes referred to as synanthropes, or urban exploiters. Synanthropes are often found at greater densities in cities than in more "natural" locations. If you live in a city or town, chances are good that you've seen pigeons, Canada geese, feral cats, raccoons, white tailed deer, and rats sharing your neighborhood. All of these animals are synanthropes, and all have rising populations. In fact, there are now over 100x more deer in the USA than there were in 1900! St. Louis Wildlife Project
The St. Louis Wildlife Project can't estimate the population size of the photographed species. We can't know whether there are really 5 woodchucks, or the same woodchuck captured on camera five times. However, we do know there are at least two coyotes because they were seen on camera together (see photo below). If you’re interested in volunteering for the St Louis Wildlife Project, you can contact them through their website. Acoustic Bat MonitoringThe St. Louis Wildlife Project biologists also received a special use permit to set up acoustic monitors to identify bats that were calling within Gateway Arch National Park's boundaries. They detected calls from: Common Bat Species Big Brown Bat, Eptesicus fuscus Eastern Red Bat, Lasiurus borealis Evening Bat, Nycticeius humeralis Gray Bat Myotis grisescens Hoary Bat, Lasiurus cinereus Silver Haired Bat, Lasionycteris noctivagans Rare/Unvetted Bat Species Little Brown Myotis, Myotis lucifugus Tricolored Bat, Perimyotic subflavus Species were identified using the bat analysis software Kaleidoscope Pro by Wildlife Acoustics. “Common” species were classified as having or more than 20 calls of that species detected per site, while “rare/unvetted” species have less than 20 calls per site in the time period of this report. These calls have not been verified by a third party bat expert and would need further vetting to confirm actual species presence. St Louis Wildlife Project NPS Photo |
Last updated: September 4, 2025