From forests to tundra, oceans to desert-like badlands, and mountains to plains, Canada is abundant in a rich variety of habitats and wildlife species. Canada’s
biodiversity (i.e., biological diversity) is important to its culture, economy, tourism, agriculture, and history to name just a few areas. “Biodiversity encompasses all living species on earth and their relationships to each other. This includes the differences in genes, species and ecosystems” (biodivcanada). People can expect to come across wildlife almost anywhere they travel throughout the country. Given their importance and abundance, it is no wonder that Canadian wildlife species are honoured in various ways such as is seen on most Canadian coins.
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You are heading home from work and looking forward to the movie you will be seeing with two of your friends tonight. You pull into your neighbourhood and debate whether all of you should get together for dinner first before the movie or do something afterwards. You start to consider different restaurants as you turn down your side street when a deer suddenly darts across your path from the yard of one of your neighbours. You swerve in an attempt to avoid hitting the deer while at the same time the deer suddenly seems to twist in mid-stride and bolt in the direction it just came from – the direction you swerved towards. You did not anticipate the sudden change of direction by the deer and you hit it directly in the chest.
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It’s the long weekend and you and your family have decided to spend some time at your usual lakeside retreat. As you exit the main highway and leave behind the busy traffic, you begin to relax on the familiar and less busy secondary highway to the lake. It is now dark and you turn on your high beams for extra light. You pass the familiar traffic sign warning you of moose for the next 10 km, but in the many years you have driven this road, you have never spotted a moose and absentmindedly disregard the warning.
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Moose (
alces alces) are indigenous to the northern hemisphere and reside primarily in Canada, the state of Alaska in the U.S., Scandinavian countries, most of Russia, and northern China. Within Canada, moose inhabit every province and territory making them one of the country’s most widespread species. As such, road users across Canada all have the potential to encounter a moose at some point in their travels. Gaining a better understanding of the moose, its characteristics, and habitat can help reduce the potential for unpleasant interactions between moose and road users
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Canada is home to a small variety of freshwater (land-based) and marine turtles, which are part of the reptilian family of the animal kingdom. Although the majority of Canada’s freshwater turtles inhabit Southern Ontario turtles can be found along the southern borders of most of Canada’s provinces. In contrast, among the marine turtles that visit Canada’s shores none nest here. According to the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) , a group of experts that assess the status of species in Canada, a number of Canada’s turtles are endangered or threatened. The most dangerous threat to turtles is humans
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