Join Lynda Pianosi and Nick de Ruyter for their presentation Family Hiking: Making it as Easy as 1-2-3.

Living with the beautiful Rocky Mountains in our backyard, we are surrounded by nature, wildlife, and hiking trails galore. But do you know which trails are family friendly, or how to choose the best hike for all the members of your group? Have you wondered what you should pack in a first aid kit or how to use bear spray? At this Earth Talks presentation, you'll learn all that, and more!

This presentation highlights the past 10 years of research undertaken by the Calgary Coyote Project (led by Dr. Shelley Alexander) in the City, the surrounding regions, and across Canada. The talk begins with a summary of basic coyote ecology and issues surrounding conflict, and addresses questions like: What types of food do coyotes eat in urban and rural areas? How often do coyote attacks on people occur? What types of emotional responses do people have to coyotes? How often were pets being eaten by coyotes in the City of Calgary and surrounding rural area? Are certain pets more vulnerable than others? What kind of actions caused or mitigated attacks? And, finally, what is the media’s role in the social amplification of risk posed by coyotes?

For hundreds of years, coyotes have been a prairie enigma and subject of mass killing campaigns. Now recognized as one of the most important ecological species in North America, coyotes continue to have an uneasy, often tragic relationship with humans. Learn the truth about this misunderstood species and how communities are changing policies to better align with common sense and coyote biology so we can live more peacefully with this supremely adaptable species. Presentation by Dianne Wittner, Wildlife biologist and founder of the Alberta Institute for Wildlife Conservation.

In a presentation for Bow Valley WildSmart, Associate Professor in the Department of Geography at the University of Calgary Shelley Alexander Ph.D, shares the results of her recent research involving coyote food sources and human conflicts.