A wily survivor. (Documentaries).(coyotes)(Shapeshifter)(Television Program Review)

WHETHER DODGING ecological pressures or the viewfinder, coyotes (ABOVE) elude predators and filmmakers alike. They are exceptionally challenging animals to capture on film, says documentary field producer Tadzio Richards. "It's not simply that they're wild animals -- they're also shifty animals that emerge and move into your view. You turn a corner, and suddenly there they are."

Richards spent three months filming coyotes for the CG Presents documentary "Shapeshifter," which traces the path of North America's "top dog" from the urban parks of Vancouver to the valleys of Yellowstone National Park and to its surprising appearance on Prince Edward Island.

Likely unknown on Prince Edward Island until the late 1970s, the first coyote was caught in a fox snare near Souris, P.E.I., in 1983. Biologists aren't ...