Browse through a few of our Canadian species in these "At A Glance" fact sheets. Each page has basic information on some of our Canadian wildlife, with links to detailed, reputable sources such as Hinterland Who's Who and the Government of Canada. Don't see a species you need? Comments or questions? Let us know!
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All About Mammals
2025-11-24
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Beaver
2025-11-24
The beaver Castor canadensis is the largest rodent in North America and the largest rodent in the world except for the capybara of South America. An adult weighs from 16 to 32 kg and, including its 30-cm tail, a large beaver may measure 1.3 m long. Its ancestors were even larger. In the Pleistocene ice age—the era of the mastodons and the mammoths—the giant beavers that inhabited the expanses of Eurasia and North America measured just under 3 m in length, including the tail, and probably weighed 360 kg.
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Beluga Whale
2025-11-24
Beluga whales have stout bodies, well-defined necks and a disproportionately small head. They have thick skins, short but broad paddle-shaped flippers, and sharp teeth. Unlike other whales, the beluga doesn’t have a dorsal fin. Belugas average 3 to 5 metres in length and weigh between 500 and 1,500 kilograms. Male whales have a marked upward curve at the top of their flippers.
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Black Bear
2025-11-24
The black bear Ursus americanus is one of the most familiar wild animals in North America today. The black bear is a bulky and thickset mammal. Approximately 150 cm long and with a height at the shoulder that varies from 100 to 120 cm, an adult black bear has a moderate-sized head with a rather straight facial profile and a tapered nose with long nostrils. The ears are rounded and the eyes small. The tail is very short and inconspicuous. A black bear has feet that are well furred on which it can walk. Each foot has five curved claws, which the bear cannot sheathe, or hide. These are very strong and are used for digging and tearing out roots, stumps, and old logs when searching for food.
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Black-Footed Ferret
2025-11-24
Of the three species of ferret in the world, the Black-footed ferret is the only one native to North America. They are impeccably cute: cat-like whiskers sprouting from a white muzzle, plush round ears above eyes set into a bandit’s black mask and sturdy legs in black stockings, supporting a sinuous, sandy-coloured body crowned by a black-tipped tail.
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Blue Whale
2025-11-24
The blue whale has a long body with a mottled gray colour pattern that appears light blue when seen through the water. It is the largest animal ever known to exist on earth. It can weigh up to 200 tons and it approximately 80 to 100 feet in length.
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Canada Lynx
2025-11-24
This secretive, hard-to-spot resident of Canada’s boreal forest is likely a descendant of the Eurasian lynx and resembles a very large domestic cat. It has a short tail, long legs, large feet and prominent ear tufts. Its winter coat is light grey and slightly mottled with long guard hairs; the under-fur is brownish, and the ear tufts and tip of the tail are black. The summer coat is much shorter than the winter coat and has a definite reddish-brown cast. The average weight of a lynx is 8 to 14 kilograms, measuring around 90 centimetres in length. The average lifespan is 15 to 20 years.
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Caribou
2025-11-24
The caribou is well adapted to its environment. Its short, stocky body conserves heat, its long legs help it move through snow, and its long dense winter coat provides effective insulation, even during periods of low temperature and high wind. The muzzle and tail are short and well haired.
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Chipmunk
2025-11-24
Chipmunks are easily recognized by the light and dark stripes on the back and head. They can be confused with some of the striped ground squirrels, but chipmunks are smaller, and have facial markings and five dark stripes on their backs, including a distinct, central line that extends forward onto the head. Ground squirrels do not have markings on the head.
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Eastern Grey Squirrel
2025-11-24
Eastern grey squirrels commonly occur in two colour phases, grey and black, which leads people to think—mistakenly—that there are two different species. The most notable physical feature of the eastern grey squirrel is its large bushy tail. The tail has many important functions. It acts as a rudder when the animal jumps from high places, as a warm covering during the winter, as a signal to other eastern grey squirrels indicating an individual’s mood.
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Ermine
2025-11-24
Ermines have features common to the weasel family like a long body, short legs, a long neck and a triangular-shaped head. They are a small weasel; males average 27 cm and females measure up at 24 cm with their tail adding another 7.5 cm to their length. Males are larger than females and weigh on average 80 g while females weigh an average of 54 g. Ermines change the colour of their coats seasonally. In the summer, their backs are brown, their undersides are white and their tails sport a black tip. In the winter, they are completely white except for their black tipped tail.
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Grey Wolf
2025-11-24
Wolves of northern North America and Eurasia vary in colour. A single pack may contain animals that are black, shades of grey-brown, and white. Wolves in the heavily forested areas of eastern North America are more uniform in colour. They are often a grizzled grey-brown, similar to some German shepherd dogs. Male wolves can weigh between 20 to 70 kilograms while the female weighs in at 18 to 55 kilograms. In the wild their lifespan can be from 8 to 16 years.
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Groundhog
2025-11-24
The groundhog is normally brown in colour but can be completely black or completely white. It is one of Canada’s largest true hibernators. The groundhog is the major hole-digging mammal over much of eastern North America, and in some places in the west, providing all sorts of animals with shelter. The groundhog it spends much of its time eating and sunning when not hibernating or caring for young.
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Killer Whale
2025-11-24
Without a doubt, the killer whale is one of the most distinctive marine mammals in the world. Its size — seven to nine metres long and between four and five tones in weight — and its striking black-and-white colouring, and long, rounded body make it unmistakable.
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Little Brown Bat
2025-11-24
The little brown bat is the most common and widespread of Canada's nineteen species of bats. They are found across Canada to the northern edge of the boreal forest. Little brown bats weigh only seven to fourteen grams and have a wingspan of 22-27 centimetres. This species of bat is the one most closely associated with humans, as it is the most likely to take up residence in buildings.
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marine
2025-11-20
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Marine Animals in Canada
2025-11-24
Canada’s wildlife is not only within our borders but also on our coasts and oceans. Learn more about the species that live in Canada’s three oceans.
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Moose
2025-11-24
Moose (Alces alces) have long, slim legs that end in cloven, or divided, hooves often more than 18 cm long. The body is deep and massively muscled at the shoulders, giving the animal a humped appearance. It is slab-sided and low-rumped, with rather slender hindquarters and a stubby, well-haired tail. The head is heavy and compact, and the nose extends in an arch terminating in a long, flexible upper lip. The ears resemble a mule’s but are not quite as long. Most moose have a pendant of fur-covered skin, about 30 cm long, called a bell, hanging from the throat. A bull moose in full spread of antlers is the most imposing beast in North America. It stands taller at the shoulder than the largest saddle horse. Big bulls weigh up to 600 kg in most of Canada. The moose is the largest member of the deer family.
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North American Bison
2025-11-24
The North American bison, or buffalo, is the largest land animal in North America. A bull can stand 2 m high and weigh more than a tonne. Female bison are smaller than males. A bison has curved black horns on the sides of its head, a high hump at the shoulders, a short tail with a tassel, and dense shaggy dark brown and black hair around the head and neck. Another distinctive feature of the buffalo is its beard.
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North Atlantic Right Whale
2025-11-24
The North Atlantic right whale (Eubalaena glacialis) has a large head that takes up nearly a quarter of the length of its body. Right whales, which can grow up to 18 metres in length can be recognized by: <ul><li> their wide tail flukes and narrow tail stock, large flippers and lack of a dorsal fin; </li><li> their skin is black and some individuals have white patches on the throat or belly; </li><li> rough white patches of skin called callosities on their head, chin, and sometimes on the edge of their lower lips. Each whale's callosity pattern is distinctive, enabling scientists to recognize individual whales. </li></ul>
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Northern Flying Squirrel
2025-11-24
Northern flying squirrels are about 30 cm in length and have broad flattened tails. The fur on their back is a cinnamon brown and they have white bellies. The large eyes of flying squirrels facilitate effective night vision. This is necessary because, unlike their more commonly seen cousins, these squirrels hide away during the day and become active about an hour after sunset.
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Orca Whale
2025-11-24
The orca (Orcinus orca), often called the killer whale, is actually the largest member of the dolphin family. Orcas are highly social animals that live in stable, family-related groups called pods. Their distinctive black-and-white colouring and large dorsal fin make them easy to spot and identify. As a result of increased water pollution, especially from toxic chemicals, they are listed as threatened under the Species at Risk Act. The average weight of an Ocra whale is 4 to 5 tonnes and measures between 7 to 9 metres. The lifespan for a male in the wild is 17 years and for females it's 29 years.
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Pinnipeds
2025-11-24
Pinnipeds are a group of marine mammals, mostly seals but also sea lions and walruses, which spend their lives in the ocean and on land. These animals normally spend time on land, but are fin-footed allowing them to swim efficiently in water.
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Polar Bear
2025-11-24
Polar bears are one of the most well-known and recognizable Canadian species. These bears are Canada’s largest land carnivore, with adult males weighing up to 800 kilograms (1763 pounds).
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Porcupine
2025-11-24
Porcupines have large, chunky bodies and short legs. This results in their slow, waddling manner. With an average weight of 5.5 kg for males and 4.5 kg for females and a total length ranging from 68 to 100 cm, porcupines are Canada's second largest rodents next to beavers. Porcupine's quills are actually modified hairs. They are longest on the back and tail, reaching lengths of 12.5 cm. Quills on the face are much shorter, approximately 1.2 cm long. Despite their prickly appearance, porcupines have soft undercoats with long guard hairs covering the quills. Their undersides, legs, and muzzles have no quills.
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Raccoon
2025-11-24
Common in many North American cities, the raccoon will eat practically any type of food — plant or animal. Many people see the raccoon’s distinctive facial fur colouring as looking like a burglar’s mask, which fits with the common perception of raccoons as pests. Highly social and intelligent animals, raccoons inhabit every Canadian province except the island of Newfoundland.
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Raccoon
2025-11-24
The common raccoon (Procyon lotor) is probably best known for its mischievous-looking black face mask. Raccoons are usually a grizzled grey in colour with a tail marked by five to 10 alternating black and brown rings. Body coloration can vary from albino, (white) to melanistic (black) or brown. An annual moult, or shedding, of the fur begins in the spring and lasts about three months. A raccoon is about 80 centimetres in length and weighs between 6-8 kilograms.
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Red Fox
2025-11-24
The red fox is a small, dog-like mammal, with a sharp pointed face and ears, an agile and lightly built body, a coat of lustrous long fur, and a large bushy tail. Male foxes are slightly larger than females. Sizes vary somewhat between individuals and geographic locations
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Snowshoe Hare
2025-11-24
The snowshoe hare one of our commonest forest mammals, is found only in North America. Well-adapted to its environment, the snowshoe hare travels on large, generously furred hind feet, which allow it to move easily over the snow. The snowshoe hare’s ears are smaller than most hares’. The ears contain many veins, which help to regulate body temperature. A seasonal variation in fur colour is another remarkable adaptation: from grey-brown in summer, the fur becomes almost pure white in midwinter.
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Striped Skunk
2025-11-24
<P>Despite its reputation, the striped skunk (Mephitis mephitis) is one of the most useful small mammals inhabiting Canada’s mixed farmlands, grasslands and forests. About the size of a cat, this member of the weasel family helps control pests such as mice, grubs and larvae. </P>
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Striped Skunk
2025-11-24
The striped skunk, a member of the weasel family, is about the size of a cat, but has a stout body, small head, short legs, bushy tail and thick, black, glossy fur. The thin white stripe down the centre of the face forks at the shoulders and continues as a white stripe along each side of the back. Tail is mostly black, but stripes may extend down it, usually to a tuft of white at the tip. The skunk is one of the most useful small mammals inhabiting Canada’s mixed farmlands, grasslands and forests because it helps control pests such as mice, grubs and larvae. On average a skunk weighs 3.25 kilograms and is approximately 57.5 - 80 centimetres in length. In the wild a skunk is estimated to live 3 years but in captivity they can live up to 15 years.
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Testosterone Overload
2025-11-24
<p>By Stephanie Poff<br />In the animal kingdom, most species use cues to determine the best mate; taking into account different scents, body language and competition to be the best. Simply put, while guys and gals are scoping eachother out at the bar, wildlife are congregating to impress a suitable mate; and when boys are flexing their muscles trying to impress a girl on the football field, wildlife are competing to win the affection of their chosen mate by showing off their strengths in front of anyone who’s watching.</p>
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The Mighty Blue Whale
2025-11-24
The blue whale holds many records in the animal kingdom, and Canadians are lucky enough to have this breathtaking creature include our coastline in its distribution. While you can’t find the blue whale in your garden, the animal serves as a good example of how our gardening practices go a long way in benefitting the health of creatures all over Canada, including aquatic ones. Read on to find out some interesting facts about these animals and what you can do to help them.
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The Science of Migration
2025-11-24
<p>By April Overall<br />What if the only way you could get from point A to point B was to huff it? And what if point B was thousands of kilometres away? That’s just the kind of trek millions of birds face every year as they make their way to their wintering grounds. How do they do it? Read on to find out!</p>
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Whales, dolphins and porpoises
2025-11-24
Whales, dolphins and porpoises are all within the same group of animals called cetaceans. These air-breathing mammals are found in all oceans of the world, including Canada’s three oceans. The easiest way to tell the difference between these animals is whether they have teeth or not. Cetaceans are subdivide into mysticetes (baleen whales) and odontocetes (toothed whales, dolphins and porpoises).
For more species, visit Hinterland Who's Who, a joint program of the Canadian Wildlife Federation and Environment Canada.