The fabulous fauna of Canada attest to the nation’s vastness and diversity.
HOW CAN THAT BE A PET?
Jim and Linda Sautner of Spruce Grove, Alberta, love their pet bison and do all they can to show him a good time. They take him to a local bar, where he enjoys a bottle of beer or root beer. He likes to lounge in front of the TV and be read to. And like most great pets, he’s housebroken. But people take notice when they see the 700-kilogram (1,600-pound) Bailey Jr. being driven around town in a modified red Pontiac convertible. Apparently, Jim has a real affinity for buffalo. His wife calls him the bison whisperer.
Jim had befriended and tamed another bison before this one—that’s Bailey Sr.—who died at age 8 when he got his leg caught in some agricultural equipment on the Sautner farm. Jim was broken-hearted, until he got a call from a friend about an orphaned buffalo.
The Sautners took the new calf into their home, bottle-fed him, and named him Bailey Jr. When he was “little,” Bailey Jr. would jump into bed with the Sautners. But Jim said he took up too many blankets, so they moved him outside. Besides going to the local bar, the Sautners have taken him to a china shop—where he didn’t break a thing—and to a local bank. Jim said Bailey made a deposit there, but it came out the wrong end.
FROGSICLE
Common to the Maritimes and southern British Columbia, the wood frog has a rare trait that helps it survive through brutal winters. When the temperature drops to between –6 and –1 degrees Celsius (21 and 30 degrees Fahrenheit), these amphibians basically become frog ice cubes. The frogs hibernate underground; as the soil freezes, so do the frogs. Two-thirds or more of their body is water. The eyeballs and brain freeze. The heart and breathing stops. The wood frogs can’t stand temperatures much colder though. If the mercury drops below –7 degrees Celsius (19 degrees Fahrenheit), they can die. But snow and soil often act as natural insulators. Once the thawing process is completed over the course of a few hours, come spring the hearts restart and off the frogs hop. Because these frogs go through complete cardiac arrest and their hearts start up again without harm, scientists are studying the creatures to see if the freezing and thawing process may help humans.
The highest recorded temp in Canada was 45 °C/113 °F in Midale, Saskatchewan, in 1937
MOOSE MANIA
Just like the beaver, these antlered quadrupeds are definitively Canadian. These largest members of the deer family are vegetarians. In fact, the word moose comes from mooswa, which is Algonquin for “twig-eater”. Moose have a flap of skin that hangs beneath their throat called a bell. It’s uncertain if the bell has a purpose, but investigators have postulated that a moose gets urine-soaked mud on its bell to attract a mate. The nostrils have a unique ability for directional smelling—they can point toward a smell to better identify it.
THERE’S BLOOD IN YOUR EYE
Horned lizards, sometimes wrongly called “horny toads” and common to southwestern Canada, have a strange protection mechanism. When attacked, they squirt blood from their eyes. If a fox or coyote picks one up in its mouth, the lizard squirts the blood; apparently the taste is so foul that it will drop the lizard.
SLITHERING LUNGLESS WONDERS
Fundy National Park is one of the world’s great havens for salamanders. Seven species reside there, including the yellow-spotted, red-backed, and two-lined. The red-backed, two-lined, dusky, and four-toed are all considered “lungless.” These amphibians undergo a process called cutaneous respiration. They take oxygen in through their skin, which acts like gills; their skin then releases carbon dioxide.
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WAR PLAN BED
“All my sisters would fight over who got to sleep with me. I was always thinking up all the games, telling all the stories, and had the best clothes. I was the entertainment. We didn’t have television and we didn’t have movies, and I was always the boss. Once, I had this idea that we’d put all the beds on top of one another so there would be only one bed, but it would be a really big, tall bed. Then we’d take turns sleeping on that bed while everybody else slept on the floor. Like, for a month. Everyone thought that was a great idea. I don’t know why. I guess because we grew up way, way out in the country and we never had any neighbors.”
—Jennifer Tilly
Before Canada was named some choices were New Britannia, Laurentia, Ursalia, and Vesporia Other contenders for the country’s name: Cabotia, Niagarentia, and Efisga.