The quiet neighbours.

Seven animals that make Canada what it is, sketched in the margins of a long, patient notebook.

↪ 7 species· 10 provinces· 3 territories· 0 zoosRead the chapter

Alces alces

Boreal forest · coast to coast

Up to 700 kg, surprisingly fast swimmers, and quietly grumpy about being stared at.

Ursus maritimus

Hudson Bay · Arctic coast

Black skin under translucent fur. They see the world the way the sea ice changes.

Ursus arctos horribilis

BC interior · Alberta foothills

When the salmon run, the rivers belong to them.

Gavia immer

Every quiet lake, north of nothing

Their call carries a mile. The dollar coin earned a nickname for it.

Orcinus orca

Pacific coast · Salish Sea

Family pods, named dialects, and a memory longer than most humans.

Rangifer tarandus

Tundra · northern Québec · NWT

They migrate further each year than any land animal alive.

Castor canadensis

Every river worth damming

Canada's unofficial engineer. On the nickel for a reason.

“We share the country. Mostly they were here first.”

Field notebook, Pukaskwa