Natural Literacy: Learning With Canids
Natural Literacy is Coyote Watch Canada’s educational pathway that helps students, educators, and communities build respectful, evidence-based relationships with coyotes, foxes, and other canids. Through art, science, and lived experiences from the field, we invite learners to see canids not as villains, but as vital, intelligent wildlife sharing our landscapes.
Our Aim
To nurture nature-literate learners who understand how canids live, why they behave the way they do, and how humans can safely and humanely coexist with them.
Our Goals
1. Cultivate empathy for canids
Challenge myths and fear-based stories by offering real, current information about coyotes and other canids.
2. Connect learning to lived experience
Bring in authentic encounters, field perspectives, and community experiences from Coyote Watch Canada to make wildlife education real and relevant.
3. Blend arts and science
Show students they can explore wildlife through multiple lenses, creative expression, observation, inquiry, and storytelling.
4. Support humane co-existence
Teach practical, evidence-based approaches to sharing space with canids in urban, suburban, and rural settings.
5. Empower classrooms and communities
Give educators, youth leaders, and guardians tools to talk about canids confidently, calmly, and compassionately.
What is “Natural Literacy” at CWC?
Natural Literacy is our way of saying: learning about nature should involve head, heart, and place. We don’t just name the animal - we look at how we tell stories about it, how it shows up in our neighbourhoods, and how our actions impact it. For canids, this is especially important because they are often misunderstood and misrepresented.
Natural Literacy:
- centres respect for wildlife
- uses evidence-based canid behaviour
- includes community and cultural perspectives
- invites creative responses from learners
Featured Program: “The Many Faces of Canids”
Program focus: helping students see that coyotes, foxes, wolves, and domestic dogs are part of a connected canid family - and that human stories shape how we treat them.
What students explore:
- how canids are portrayed in media and stories (trickster, threat, hero, neighbour)
- how canids actually live - behaviour, family structure, adaptation
- how human attitudes can help or harm wildlife
- how art, writing, or drama can be used to “reframe” canids in a positive, informed way
- Key message: when students understand canids more fully, they’re more likely to act in ways that protect them.
Why Teach Canids Through Arts, Science, and Lived Experiences?
- Arts help students process emotion, challenge stereotypes, and create new stories about wildlife.
- Science gives them accurate information about behaviour, ecology, and safety.
- Lived experiences — the real situations Coyote Watch Canada responds to — show that co-existence isn’t theoretical; it’s happening in our neighbourhoods right now.
Together, these three strands make wildlife education more memorable and more humane.
Who It’s For
- classroom educators (elementary and middle years)
- outdoor / nature educators
- community groups and youth programs
- guardians looking for humane, coyote-positive learning
By the end of a Natural Literacy session, learners will:
- recognize common canids in their region
- understand basic canid needs and behaviours
- know simple co-existence actions (what to do / what not to do)
- be able to name harmful myths about canids
- express their learning through art, writing, or storytelling
