Canadian wildlife

Canada's fauna

As regards wildlife, Canada is called "the Africa of the North". Today's visitors can enjoy Canadian natural ecosystems in the form they were in the last ice age. 

The world's largest herd of free-roaming wood bison are protected in Wood Buffalo National Park (Alberta), which is also the only known nesting site of the critically endangered whooping crane. 

Wild polar bears can be seen in Manitoba's Wapusk National Park, on the shores of Hudson Bay.

Polar bear

The endangered grizzly bear can be spotted in Glacier National Park and Yoho National Park (British Columbia), whereas the more common black bear inhabits a larger territory of Canada, from Nunavut to Newfoundland.

Grizzly bear

Point Pelee National Park (Ontario) is a place where over 360 species of bird can be watched through binoculars. Other wildlife viewing opportunities are provided at Elk Island National Park (Alberta), home of Canada's only prairie dogs, and Aulavik National Park (the Northwest Territories), site of the world's highest concentration of musk oxen.

Musk ox

In 2003, the Canadian government introduced the Species at Risk Act (SARA), which claimed that none of Canada's 500 species at risk would fall between the cracks. However, because of the future of the federal government's refusal to enforce the Act, the future of some endangered species such as the northern spotted owl is still uncertain.

Spotted owl

The spotted owl, caribou, grizzly bears, wild salmon, and orcas are among the endangered species whose habitats have to be protected from such human activity as timber cutting or cattle grazing.

Canada's flora 

Canada offers a wide range of habitats across varied vegetation.

Arctic Tundra can be found in Canada's north which leads south into boreal forests which is most typical of Canada and covers more of the country than any other type of vegetation.

Arctic Tundra

The Maritimes are home to the Acadian forests which are made up from spruce, for, birch, pine and maple trees. Rocks and Lakes in the Canadian Shield West of the Maritimes in Quebec and Ontario are the Laurentian Forests and Mountains leading into the Canadian Shield in the north and the Great Lakes in the south and west of Ontario. Meanwhile, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta make up Canada's prairie grasslands which contain mixed grasses but are mainly covered by farmed grains.

Saskatchewan's prairie grasslands

Alberta and the east of British Columbia contain Canada's Rocky Mountains which stretch up into the Yukon Territory from the United States. Spruce, fir and larch trees can be found amongst the rocky and often snow covered terrain.

Forest in Canada's Rocky Mountains

Finally, temperate rain forests of gigantic red cedar, fir and spruce can be found along the Pacific Coast in British Columbia, the interior of which  has the most far north desert.

Gigantic red cedar