Canada
Canada Political system
Canada is a federal state with a constitutional monarchy and parliamentary
democracy. The British monarch is considered the country's head of state. He is
represented by a Governor General, who is appointed by him on the proposal of
the Prime Minister of Canada. The actual legislature, the Canadian parliament,
has its seat in the capital Ottawa and consists of the governor general, the
upper house ("Senate") and the lower house ("House of Commons"). The House of
Lords has 105 senators from the country's provinces and territories. They are
installed by the Governor General. The 301 members of the House of Commons are
elected every four years on average (for a maximum of five years), with a
majority voting system being used.

The executive branch of Canada is based on the British cabinet system. The
executive power therefore rests with the Governor General, who however acts
exclusively at the behest of the government. This consists of the Prime Minister
and other members of the cabinet. Prime Minister usually becomes the leader of
the party with the most seats in the lower house. He is also the chairman of
parliament and appoints around 25 members as ministers. Together they form the
cabinet, which in turn reports to the House of Commons. The executive bodies of
the Canadian government are federal ministries, federal agencies, agencies,
committees and state-owned companies.
Canada comprises ten provinces and three territories. The latter are
administered by the federal government. The provinces, on the other hand, have
their own legislative bodies and provincial governments.
Canadian law is essentially based on common law (with the exception of the
province of Quebec, here "Quebec Civil Code"). The fundamental rights of
Canadian citizens are protected by a catalog of civil and human rights, the
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This includes, for example, the right
to freedom of expression, the right to use one of the two official languages
and the protection of multiculturalism. Canada generally values the rights
of its citizens and the observance of human rights worldwide. The highest courts
are the Supreme Court of Canada and the Federal Court of Canada in Ottawa. Each
province also has its own dishes. The Federation is represented in the provinces
by a governor-general appointed "
According to Digopaul.com,
the official name of the country is:
Provinces and Territories
The information on the areas and population of the provinces and
territories of Canada vary slightly between different sources, and they have
also been rounded up or down. The following figures are from the Canadian
Embassy in Germany.
Provinces
Provinces |
Area in km2 |
Population |
Capital |
Population (capital) |
Alberta |
661.185 |
3.2 million |
Edmonton |
840,000 |
British Columbia |
947,800 |
3.9 million |
Victoria |
320,000 |
Manitoba |
650,000 |
1.1 million |
Winnipeg |
680,000 |
New Brunswick |
73,500 |
740,000 |
Fredericton |
46,000 |
Newfoundland and Labrador |
405.720 |
574,000 |
St. John's |
172,000 |
Nova Scotia |
55,491 |
950,000 |
Halifax |
32,000 |
Ontario |
1,068,580 |
11 million |
Toronto |
2.5 million |
Prince Edward Isla |
5,660 |
137,000 |
Charlottetown |
33,000 |
Quebec |
1,540,680 |
7 million |
Quebec City |
640,000 |
Saskatchewan |
651,900 |
1 million |
Regina |
190,000 |
Territories
Territories |
Area in km2 |
Population |
Capital |
Population (capital) |
The Northwest Territories |
1,171,918 |
42,000 |
Yellowknife |
15,000 |
Nunavut |
2,093,000 |
29,000 |
Iqaluit |
5,000 |
The Yukon |
483,450 |
30,700 |
Whitehorse |
21,500 |
National anthem
The national anthem of a country is usually a piece of music underlaid with a
text, which is intended to express the state, attitude to life or national
feeling of a country. It is usually played on particularly festive occasions.
The introduction of the national anthems in most European countries goes back to
the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Canada's national anthem "O Canada"was composed in 1880 by the
music teacher Calixa Lavallée. The original French text comes from Judge
Adolphe-Basile Routhier. The current English version of the text is a
translation by Robert Stanley Weir from the year 1908. On July 1, 1980, "O
Canada" was declared the country's official anthem and converted into a
countered form in February 2018..
In English
O Canada! Our home and native land!
True patriot love in us all command.
With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!
From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee. |
English translation
O Canada! Our home and homeland!
Arouse true patriotism in all of us.
With glowing hearts we see you grow,
the true north, strong and free!
From far and wide, O Canada,
we stand defensively for you.
God keep our country safe and free!
O Canada, we stand up for you.
O Canada, we stand up for you. |
The French anthem is not an exact translation from English.
In French
Ô Canada! Terre de nos aïeux,
Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux!
Car ton bras sait porter l'épée,
Il sait porter la croix;
Ton histoire est une épopée
Des plus brillants exploits.
Et ta valeur de foi trempé
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits;
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits. |
English translation from French
O Canada! Home of our ancestors,
your forehead is crowned with glorious flowers.
Since your arm can wield the sword, it can
also carry the cross.
Your story is an epic of
the most extraordinary achievements.
And your boldness, soaked in faith,
will protect our homes and our rights.
will protect our home and our right. |
National flag
The national flag symbolizes certain historical developments or special
characteristics of a country. Today every country has its own national flag,
which is often supplemented by numerous other flags inside.
Based on flag descriptions by
Countryaah.com, several people were involved in the design of the Canadian flag. Jacques
St. Cyr provided the stylized maple leaf, George Bist
determined the proportions and Gunter Wyszechi determined
the coloring. A 15-member parliamentary special committee ultimately decided on
its final appearance. On February 15, 1965, the new national flag was adopted by
parliament. This date is now officially recognized as Canadian Flag Day.

Canada: Known People
Doctors, scientists working in medicine
Sir William Osler (1849 - 1919)
one of the most famous doctors in the Anglo-Saxon area at the turn of the
century; leader in the development of modern medicine; specializes in heart,
lung and blood diseases; incorporated elements of today's psychosomatic medicine
into his healing art.
James Naismith (1861-1939)
physician and educator; invented the ball game "basketball" in 1891
John James Richard Macleod (1876-1935)
Scottish-Canadian physiologist; important work on diabetes (diabetes mellitus)
and carbohydrate metabolism; received the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology or
Medicine (the official name of the prize) together with Sir Frederick Grant
Banting
Oswald Theodore Avery (1877-1955)
medical doctor and researcher; together with Colin McLeod and Maclyn McCarty is
considered the founder of modern molecular genetics; showed in bacteria that DNA
is the carrier of genetic information
Sir Frederick Grant Banting (1891-1941)
pediatrician and pharmacologist; discovered insulin together with Charles Best
in the early 1920s; he received the 1923 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Wilder Graves Penfield (1891-1976)
neurologist; explored the brain regions
Herbert Henri Jasper (1906-1999)
neuroscientist; mainly dealt with the EEG
Theodore Brown Rasmussen (1910-2002)
neurologist, especially epilepsy surgery
Ralph Marvin Steinman (1943-2001)
Together with the American Bruce Beutler and the French Jules Hoffmann, he
received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. The award was given to them
for their contribution to research into the immune system. Steinman had died a
few days before the pancreatic cancer award and was therefore awarded the award
posthumously. Since the Nobel Prize Committee knew nothing of his death at the
time of the award, the honor was retained, although posthumous honors per se are
excluded.
Architects and builders
Arthur Charles Erickson (born 1924)
Architect; Selection of his buildings: Museum of Anthropology at the University
of British Columbia, Court of Justice in Downtown Vancouver, San Diego
Convention Center, Napp Laboratories in Cambridge (England), the Canadian
Chancery in Washington DC, California Plaza in Los Angeles
Frank Owen Gehry (actually Frank Goldberg; born 1929)
Architect and designer; leading exponent of deconstructivism in
architecture; Selection of his buildings: California Aerospace Museum in Santa
Monica, California, Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, American Center in
Paris, Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao (1991-1997), Gehry Tower in Hanover
Moshe Safdie (born 1938)
Canadian architect of Israeli origin; built the terrace block Habitat 67 for the
world exhibition in 1967 in Montréal, and in 1984 the National Gallery of Canada
in Ottawa
Carlos Ott (born 1946)
Architect; planned the Opéra de la Bastille in Paris, which was completed in
1989
Visual artist
Emily Carr (1871-1945)
Painter; mixed motifs of Indian culture with European elements, especially of
impressionism, in her works
Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002)
Canadian photographer of Armenian origin; The specialty were portrait photos
David Rabinowitsch (born 1943)
sculptor
Jeff Wall (born 1946)
performance artist
Rodney Graham (born 1949)
artist, including artist books, prints, photography, film and video
Luc Courchesne (born 1952)
media artist
Musician
Bryan Adams (born 1959)
Singer and composer and photographer; Mainstream rocker
Paul Anka (born 1941)
Singer and composer
Justin Drew Bieber (born 1994)
Bieber is a pop and R&B singer. Bieber's paternal great-grandfather immigrated
to Canada from Germany.
Michael Steven Bublé (born 1975)
jazz singer and actor of Italian descent.
His album named after him made it into the "Top" in 2003 in Canada, Great
Britain and Australia
Leonard Cohen (1934-2016)
musician, songwriter and poet. Leonard Norman Cohen was born on September 21,
1934 in Montreal to wealthy Jewish parents.
He started playing the guitar at the age of 13. But music initially played a
secondary role for him, as he was aiming for a career as a writer. His first
work was a volume of poetry in 1956 entitled Let Us Compare Mythologies.
In the following years he made long trips through Europe until he settled on the
Greek island of Hydra and lived with the Norwegian Marianne Ihlen for a few
years.
Here he had published the novels The Favorite Game (1963) and Beautiful Losers
(1966) as well as the collection of poems Flowers for Hitler (1964). He switched
to music in 1967 when he was active as a folk singer and songwriter in New York.
At the time Cohen had lived in the legendary Chelsea Hotel, where many
well-known artists had stayed before and afterwards.
He had released numerous albums, the last two being considered his best. His
songs, which are also famous in Germany, are Suzanne, Bird on a Wire, Lady
Midnight, To night will be fine or So Long Marianne - to name just a few.
Cohen suffered from depression all his life. Not least because of this, he had
retired to a Buddhist monastery near Los Angeles for a few years and became a
monk in 1996 under the name Jikan (the silent).
Against all odds, he returned to music in 2001 and gave concerts in Canada and
Europe in 2008 and in New Zealand, Australia, the USA and Canada in 2009 and
again in Europe in the summer of that year.
In 2010 he again went on a world tour and gave five concerts in Germany.
Cohen has two children with Suzanne Elrod, son Adam Cohen born in 1972 and
daughter Lorca Cohen born in 1974.
He died on November 7, 2016 in Los Angeles.
Addendum
According to many, he would have deserved the Nobel Prize more than Bob
Dylan. Be that as it may, here are the first two stanzas of the wonderful song
Bird on a Wire - the second stanza in particular is downright touching:
"like a bird on a wire
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free
like a worm on the hook
like a knight from some old-fashioned book
I have saved all my ribbons for thee
and if I have been unkind
I hope that you will just let it go by
and if I have been untrue
I hope you know it was never to you "
Celine Marie Claudette Dion (born 1968)
pop singer
Glenn Herbert Gould (1932 - 1982)
important pianist of the 20th century; internationally known for his recordings
of works by JS Bach (e.g. Goldberg Variations)
Diana Jean Krall (born 1964)
jazz pianist and singer
Galt MacDermot (born 1928)
Composer in the fields of rock, jazz and film music
Joni Mitchell - actually Roberta Joan Anderson (born 1943)
Painter and musician. Along with Carole King and Laura Nyro, she is one of the
most important songwriters of the so-called first generation.
Alanis Nadine Morissette (born 1974)
Singer, songwriter and painter
Neil Young (born 1945)
rock musician. Neil Percival Young was born on November 12, 1945 in Toronto,
Ontario. Neil spent his early years in the small town of Omemee, Ontario.
In 1951 he fell ill with polio, which had led to paralysis on the left side of
his body. And that's not all: in the mid-1960s, he also contracted epilepsy and
diabetes. She then spent a year in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, to recover. After
his parents' divorce in 1957, he moved with his mother to Winnipeg, Manitoba -
the easternmost prairie province of Canada.
His musician career began in 1966 with the band Buffalo Springfield, which he
and Stephen Stills (born 1945) founded in Los Angeles.
Songs like Mr. Soul, Broken Arrow and On The Way Home came from this time. In
1968 he left the band to pursue a solo career and in the same year he released
his first solo album and traveled through North America in 1969. Shortly
thereafter, the first album appeared with his band Crazy Horse, which he founded
- named after the Indian chief Crazy Horse (1839-1877). He also performed with
Crosby, Stills and Nash at the Woodstock Festival in August 1969.
During this time, among others, Helpless and Country Girl and the protest song
Ohio appeared. In the following years a number of albums appeared, including
Harvest and On The Beach.
In 1982 Neil Young moved to the record label Geffen Records, for which he
recorded five albums by 1987.
The album Freedom from 1989 was a great success. In October 1992 the release of
Harvest Moon followed.
In 1995 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The soundtrack of
Jim Jarmusch's film Dead Man came from him.
In 1996 the Crazy Horse album Broken Arrow was released and in 1997 the live
record Year of the Hors 1999 the album Looking Forward came out.
On the occasion of the terrorist attack on September 11, 2001, he played the
John Lennon piece Imagine solo on the piano. Further stations of his musical
work were the album Greendale from 2003 and the 2004 Greatest Hits album. In
addition to his numerous illnesses, there was also an aneurysm in the brain in
April 2005 - before his operation he had recorded the album Prairie Wind in
Nashville. After the operation, which was successful despite complications
occurring during the operation, he released the album Living With War in May
2006, which deals critically with the US policy on Iraq in folk rock style. In
2007 he released the album "Chrome Dreams II and 2009 Archives Volume I.
In 2010 the album Le Noise, produced by Daniel Lanois, was released. For the
single record Angry World he received a Grammy for the best rock song.
In 2011 the album A Treasure, recorded during the 1985 tour with his band The
International Harvesters, was released. In July 2014 he went on a European tour
with the group Crazy Horse.
From 1968 to 1970 Young was married to Susan Acevedo and with the actress Carrie
Snodgress (1945-2004) he had a relationship from 1971 to 1975. And from 1978 to
2014 he was married to Pegi Morton (born 1952).
Nickelback
The rock band called "Nickelback" was founded in the early 1990s by Chad
Kroeger, his half-brother Mike and his cousin Brandon under the name The Village
Idiots and renamed in 1995 to today's name Nickelback.
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (born 1925)
jazz pianist
Natural scientist
Donald Olding Hebb (1904 - 1985)
He is considered the founder of cognitive psychobiology; his most famous work
"The Organization of Behavior" (1949) deals with neurobiological principles of
learning
Arthur Mc.Donald (born 1943)
Nobel Laureate in Physics 2015. Arthur Bruce McDonald was born on August 29,
1943 in Sydney, Nova Scotia (New Scotland), Canada.
In 2015 he received the Nobel Prize for Physics together with the Japanese
Takaaki Kajita "For the discovery of neutrino oscillators that show that
neutrinos have a mass".
The previously known neutrions are the electron, muon and tau neutrinos. This
research facility for evidence of neutrinos lies 2,000 m below a rock layer.The
detector consists of 1,000 tons of heavy water (deuterium) and corresponding
light detectors to specifically detect electron neutrinos from the sun.
In 1964 he received a bachelor's degree in physics from Dalhousie University,
Nova Scotia, and a master's degree in 1965. He received his PhD from the
California Institute of Technology.
He then worked from 1970 to 1982 as a scientist at the Chalk River Laboratories
near Ottawa. From 1982 to 1989 he held a chair in physics at Princeton
University - after which he became a professor at Queen's University in Kingston
(Ontario). At the same time he became director of the Sudbury Neutrino
Observatory (SNO) in 1989.
He was also a visiting scientist at CERN in 2004, at Los Alamos National
Laboratory in 1981 and at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Bertram Neville Brockhouse (1918-2003)
physicist; Nobel Prize in Physics 1994 together with the American Clifford
Glenwood Shull for the development of techniques for the scattering of the
uncharged nuclear particles
James Peebles (born 1935)
James Peebles, together with the Swiss Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz, received
the Nobel Prize in Physics of the Year 2019 for their contributions to the
understanding of the universe and the place of the earth in the cosmos.
Donna Strickland (born 1952)
Donna Strickland received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2018 for her
groundbreaking findings in the field of laser technology.
She is the first woman in 55 years to receive the Nobel Prize in Physics.
Richard E. Taylor (born 1929)
physicist; received the 1990 Nobel Prize in Physics together with the Americans
Jerome I. Friedman and Henry W. Kendall for demonstrating the substructure of
the proton
Politicians and rulers
Tecumseh (actually Tecumtha or Tikamthi, "the crouching
mountain lion"; 1768 - 1813)
famous chief of the Shawnee Indians; tried since about 1805 to unite the Indian
tribes of the Midwest and Southeast against the advancing white settlers; fought
on the British side against the Americans in the war of 1812-1813
Henry Sherwood (1807-1855) - lawyer, officer and politician
Sir John Alexander Macdonald (1815-1891)
first Prime Minister of Canada from 1867 to 1873, later again from 1878 until
his death
Sir John Joseph Caldwell Abbott (1821-1893)
lawyer and politician; Canada's first native prime minister
1891/92; Great-grandfather of the actor Christopher Plummer
Sir Wilfrid Laurier (1841-1919)
lawyer by profession; Member of the Canadian Parliament from 1874; from 1887
leader of the Liberal Party; 1896-1911 first French Canadian Prime Minister of
Canada; under him the settlement and development of western Canada began
Louis Riel (1844-1885)
famous leader of the Métis in Canada; was instrumental in the admission of
Manitoba into the Canadian Confederation; led an uprising of the Métis against
the Canadian government in 1884 and was executed for it
William Lyon Mackenzie King (1874-1950)
Liberal Party leader 1919-1948; multiple Prime Minister of Canada (1921-1926,
1926-1930, 1935-1948); under him Canada achieved independence from Great Britain
(officially 1931)
Lester Bowles Pearson (1897-1972)
historian and politician; worked in the Foreign Ministry from 1928; Member of
the Liberal Party of Canada; 1948-1957 Foreign Minister; was instrumental in
founding NATO (1949); actively sought to end the Suez War (1956-1957) and
received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957; 1963-1968 Prime Minister of Canada
Directors and actors
Walter Pidgeon (1897 - 1984)
actor, two-time nominations for the Oscar for best actor ("Mrs. Miniver" 1942
"," Madame Curie "1944)
Leslie Nielsen (born 1926)
actor (among others in "Die nackte Kanone")
Christopher Plummer (actually Arthur Christopher Orme
Plummer; born 1927)
actor; played in films like "A Beautiful Mind" (2001) or "The Legacy of the
Knights Templar" (2004)
Graham Greene (born 1952)
actor of Native American descent; played in 1990 in the film "Dances with
Wolves" and was nominated for an Oscar
Jim Carrey (real name James Eugene Carrey; born 1962)
comedian and actor
Mike Myers (born 1963)
film actor
Keanu Charles Reeves (born 1964)
actor and musician (bassist); received numerous awards
Pamela Denise Anderson (born 1967)
actress
Writer and poet
Francois-Xavier Garneau (1809-1866)
Writer; including "Histoire du Canada" (1845 - 1848), which was characterized by
a patriotic attitude with the aim of establishing an independent Canadian-French
literature against British rule
Octave Crémazie (1827-1879)
poet
Lucy Maud Montgomery (1874-1942)
Writer; known from the youth book series "Anne of Green Gables"
Gray Owl (actually Archibald Stansfeld Belaney; 1888-1938)
English-born trapper (trappers and fur hunters) and writer; lived a long time
with the Ojibway Indians of the Bear Island tribe, from whom he also got his
name Gray Owl
Morley Callaghan (1903-1990)
Writer; Short stories; belonged to the circle of modern writers at Montparnasse
in Paris at the end of the 1920s
Hugh MacLennan (born 1907)
Writer, including the novel "The watch that ends the night" ("The night of
reconciliation", 1959); from 1951 to Professor of English Literature at McGill
University in Montréal
Brian Moore (1921-1999)
Writer and screenwriter
Timothy Findley (1930-2002)
Writer; is considered a classic of Canadian literature
Alice Munro (born 1931)
is one of the most famous short story writers
Edna Annie Proulx (born 1935)
journalist and writer; American origin; Pulitzer Prize 1993 for the novel "The
Shipping News"
Margaret Eleanor Atwood (born 1939)
Writer; Novels, essays, short stories and poetry; is regarded as one of the most
renowned authors in the English-speaking world; Booker Prize 2000 for the novel
"The Blind Assassin" ("The Blind Murderer")
Michael Ondaatje (born 1943)
Writer; Dutch-Tamil-Sinhalese origin; Booker Prize 1992 for novel "The English
Patient" ("The English Patient")
Jeannette Armstrong (born 1948)
author and founder of the indigenous information and education center En'owkin
Center; internationally known for her involvement in environmental initiatives
and the anti-globalization movement; first indigenous novel "Slash" 1985
Guy Gavriel Kay (born 1954)
fantasy writer
Douglas Coupland (born 1961)
Writer and artist; wrote the novel "Generation X" (published 1991)
Yann Martel (born 1963)
Writer; Booker Prize 2002 for the novel "Life of Pi" ("Shipwreck with Tiger")
Athlete
Terry Fox (1958-1981)
Terrance Stanley was a Canadian athlete and campaigner in support of therapies
for cancer. He became known for his "Marathon of Hope".
At the age of 18 he was diagnosed with bone cancer in his leg (bone sarcoma) -
as a result, his right leg was amputated 15 centimeters above the knee.
Given the suffering of other cancer patients he encountered in the course of his
treatment, he decided to walk around Canada to raise money for cancer
research. He wanted to cover 42 km a day - hence the name of the run "Marathon
of Hope". He started on April 12, 1980 in St. John's in Newfoundland to put his
plan into practice.
But on September 1, 1980, after a distance of 5,375, his body was so metastatic
that he had to stop his run. He died on June 28, 1981 of complications from
sarcoma.
On December 23, 1980, he was named Canadian of the Year by journalists for the
Canadian print media, television and radio.
A Terry Fox statue stands in his honor across from "Parliament Hill" in Ottawa
Edward "Ned" Hanlan (1855-1908)
legendary rower; multiple world champion
Nancy Greene (born 1943)
ski racer; 1968 Olympic champion in giant slalom and Olympic runner-up in slalom
Ben Johnson (real name Benjamin Sinclair Johnson; born 1961)
athlete; was convicted of doping in 1988 with a grandiose world record over 100m
Olympic champion and then of doping, which is why the gold medal was revoked
again
Wayne Douglas Gretzky (born 1961)
ice hockey player; he is considered the best ice hockey player in the world. Not
least because of this it was named "The Great One"
Theologians and philosophers
Charles Taylor (born 1931)
philosopher; is considered one of the most influential thinkers in the
English-speaking world; Advocate of community-based social theory
Ian Hacking (born 1936)
science theorist and philosopher of language; Representative of entity realism
Others
Sir Sandford Fleming (1827-1915)
important engineer and inventor; was significantly involved in the introduction
of the time zone system; Founding member of the Royal Society of Canada
Joseph-Armand Bombardier (1907-1964)
industrialist; Inventor of the snowmobile; founded the company Bombardier Inc.
(then L'Auto-Neige Bombardier Limitée) in Valcourt in Québec in 1942, which is
now one of the world's largest manufacturers of aircraft and railroad cars.
Peter Charles Jennings (1938-2005)
formerly the leading news anchor for the US broadcaster ABC; hosted the main
newscast ABC World News Tonight from 1983; was considered one of the most
prominent news journalists in the world.
Margriet Francisca (born in Ottawa in 1943)
Princess of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Princess of
Lippe-Biesterfeld; was born during World War II while the Royal Family of the
Netherlands was in exile in Canada
Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980)
Professor of Media Studies.
With the exception of the years 1967 to 1968 at Fordham University in New York,
he taught at the University of Toronto and is considered one of the world's most
influential media theorists of the 20th century.
He formulated his central thesis as follows: "The medium itself is the message".
Canada: animals
Note
The following illustration is only a small excerpt from Canada's very
extensive fauna.
We are grateful for tips on the representation of other animals and will of
course take up the suggestions!
Mammals
A Canadian national symbol and heraldic animal is the Canadian beaver, which
can be found practically everywhere. It has a reddish-brown fur, is between 90
and 117 cm tall and is always close to water. It is depicted on the Canadian 5
cents coin.
There are three species of bears in Canada. The black bears, which can be found
almost everywhere except for the tundra and the southern part of the prairie,
the brown bears, which include the Kodiak bears that live on the islands of the
same name and the grizzly bears that live in the mountains of western Canada,
and the polar bears that live exclusively in the arctic regions occurrence.
Wolves can be encountered in remote areas, but the coyotes related to them
are far more common. In addition to Canada, they are found throughout North
America and parts of Central America. Their coat color varies between
yellow-brown and gray-brown, but the white throat and chest are typical. With a
body length of approximately 1.10 m and a height of 50 cm, coyotes are smaller
than wolves. They live in dense forests and on prairies where they hunt mice and
rabbits. Birds and snakes as well as berries, fruits and also carrion are seldom
on their menu.
The bison (buffalo) that used to be widespread across the country can now
only be observed in national parks. They are herd animals that were barely able
to escape extermination through senseless mass slaughter and are now
protected. They can reach heights of up to 3.50 m in length, whereby the males
often weigh around 1000 kg. The females, on the other hand, are only half as
heavy. The bison is related to the cattle. It has a thick, brown fur and small,
slightly curved horns. These occur in both bulls and cows. Its nutritional basis
is made up of grasses, mosses, lichens and herbs.
In the country's forests, deer and the moose, which are highly valued by
hunters, are not uncommon. The caribou, which is related to the reindeer, only
lives in the far north in an area with little vegetation. In the deer family,
the caribou is the only animal where both sexes have antlers, even if the
females are smaller. The herd animal is perfectly adapted to the cold climate in
northern Canada. Its thick, dark brown fur offers the caribou protection from
winter temperatures and its hooves allow it to pull out mosses and grasses from
under a blanket of snow or ice.
The wapiti (red deer) is also very rare and lives in the Jasper and Bauff
national parks. Here you can also meet the mountain sheep. The mountain goats,
which are related to the antelopes, live above the tree line.
The Canadian lynx is found almost exclusively in Canada. The nocturnal animal
lives as a loner in secluded forest areas, which means that an encounter with
humans is rather rare. He belongs to the cat family and is not only a very good
climber, but also an excellent swimmer. The Canadian lynx feeds mainly on
mountain hares, which they can also follow successfully on the snow thanks to
their large paws.
The skunk, however, also known as the skunk, is widespread. It lives in forests,
in city parks and can also be encountered in residential areas on the
outskirts. However, this acquaintance can quickly become uncomfortable if the
animal thinks it has to defend itself. The only thing that helps against the
stinking secretion from his anal glands is a bath in tomato juice, if at all. If
the secretion comes into contact with the mucous membranes, vomiting and
headaches are possible consequences. Contact with the eyes can even cause
temporary blindness.
The approximately 90 cm long porcupine is also common in forests across
Canada. It mainly feeds on the tree bark and young shoots. Raccoons, muskrats,
badgers, martens and foxes are also among the more common forest residents.
Reptiles without poisonous snakes
In the west of the country there are individual specimens of river
crocodiles, and the short-crested iguana is said to have been sighted several
times. There are also some species of lizards, creeps and skinks in Canada. The
short-horned toad lizard, around 15 cm long, is found in southern Canada. The
flattened body with the short tail is typical of all toad lizards and is
completely covered with short spines that resemble horns in the head area. The
main food of the toad lizard is ants, although they occasionally rely on other
insects and sometimes on snails and smaller snakes.
The native turtles include four species of sea turtles, including the largest
living turtle, the leatherback turtle, which can grow up to 2 m in
length. Unlike other turtles, their shell is covered with a rubbery skin. The
sea turtle makes its nests in sandy coasts. There are such nests on the Atlantic
coast in North America, in the coasts of the Caribbean and Central America, as
well as in South America, Africa and the coasts of the Indian Ocean. However,
the stock is endangered by fishing as the animals get caught in the nets. The
eggs are coveted as a delicacy and are taken directly from the nests on the
beach, which endangers the populations.
The amphibians found include salamanders, frogs and toads, all of which can be
found in large numbers in swamps and bodies of water.
There are numerous non-poisonous snakes in Canada such as the garter snake,
signet ring snake, brown snake, black rat snake, black snake, and thorntail
snake. The North American sand boa is also one of the non-venomous snakes in
Canada.
Poisonous snakes
In certain regions, rattlesnakes such as the eastern chain dwarf rattlesnake,
the forest rattlesnake or the prairie rattlesnake are not uncommon.
Birds
The most common waterfowl in northern Ontario are the loons, but many other
seabirds also fly around.
The largest birds in the country are the great blue herons, which are sensitive
to disturbance and live mainly in quiet marshland. They build their nests out of
twigs in trees at a height of about 40 m. In addition to fish and frogs, they
also feed on invertebrates and occasionally small mammals.
The European heron will only be found brooding in small numbers. Canada geese
and the mallard, which occurs almost everywhere, are common. The colorful wood
duck native to northern Canada is particularly beautiful to look at.
Razorbills and the 30 cm large puffin can be found on the coast of
Canada. The latter has little in common with the parrots, but belongs to the
family of the alken. The name comes from the brightly colored, parrot-like beak,
while the bird is colored black and white. The bird can be seen brooding between
June and July. It is unusual that the clutch of these beautiful and cute birds
consists of just one egg. The puffin is also found in Norway and Iceland.
Birds of prey include the bald eagle, osprey, and owls. There are also
numerous songbirds in Canada. These include sparrows, bullfinches, blue jays,
tits and the blood cardinal. The latter is a 20-23 cm tall bird that owes its
name to the almost exclusively scarlet plumage of the males.
It is characterized by black coloring around the bird's beak.
The breeding area of the Thoroughbred is limited to the northern edges of
Canada, where the gyrfalcon can also be observed. The rare whooping crane lives
in Wood-Buffalo National Park.
insects
The monarch butterfly is only found in the north of Canada, but it migrates
to the south to overwinter. The butterfly catches the eye with its bright
black-white-yellow markings, which indicates that it is inedible. This is not a
delusion, since it mainly feeds on the poisonous swallow root plant and
accumulates the toxins. So birds would do better to leave him alone.
You can also often find huge swarms of mosquitoes, bees, wasps, bumblebees or
ants and ticks here.
Canada: plants
Trees
There are eight different vegetation zones in Canada. South of the treeless
tundra in the north, a boreal coniferous forest grows, mainly of white and black
spruce, balsam and rock mountain pines, bank and pine trees, the most typical
vegetation in Canada.
A mixed forest of conifers and deciduous trees grows near the Great Lakes and
the St. Lorenz River. Here are the large white pines, spruces, maples, oaks and
birches.
A Canadian landmark is the sugar maple, whose five-lobed leaf is also
depicted on the Canadian flag.
Since Canada has the richest maple forests in the world, it is also one of the
most important crops in the country.
Angels' spruces, aspens and rotary pines are found in the Rocky Mountains. Huge
trees such as the giant trees, douglas firs, hemlocks and sitka spruces line the
eastern part of the Pacific coast. Some of the trees are already around 1000
years old.
Giant life trees, for example, reach a maximum height of 67 m, but reach a trunk
diameter of 6-7 m at chest height. An age of 1000 years is not uncommon for
these trees. The pineapple scent of their needles is characteristic.
Rainforests build up along the western Pacific coast as well as on Vancouver
Island. Hemlocks and red cedar trees grow along the Kooleney River, Fraser
River, and the Thompson River.
Crops
Numerous grain fields spread across the prairie with Manitoba, Saskachewan
and Alberta. The best-known crop is undoubtedly the sugar maple, which provides
the popular maple syrup. The tree can be up to 41 m high and 400 years old. The
maple syrup is made from the high-sugar bleeding sap of the tree, which is
obtained by drilling into the trunk. The wood of the sugar maple is used in
furniture production.
Walnut, hickory, and fruit trees grow in southeastern Canada.
Medicinal plants
The spruce asparagus is said to bring relief from fever, dizziness and
nervous complaints. The trefoil is a very potassium-rich plant and is
particularly suitable for losing weight due to its detoxifying effect.
Poisonous plants
Sumac grows in the southern forests. Some species of this plant are not
poisonous and are widely used as a spice.
They can be recognized by the red berries. However, if the sumac produces white
berries, you should stay away from it, as it is extremely poisonous in this
case.
The poison ivy, which also belongs to the sumac family and is also known as
poison sumac, is widespread. The plant is a climbing shrub that can grow to 2-3
m tall. The toxic latex in the leaves and all other parts of the plant causes
severe skin irritation on contact. The result is itching and reddening of the
skin, which spread to the surrounding areas of skin after several
days. Eventually, blistering occurs while the severe itching persists. The
healing process can take several months. Contact with the eyes should be avoided
at all costs, as it can lead to severe conjunctivitis and corneal inflammation
and can even lead to blindness. Ingesting the poison is just as dangerous. The
consequences are diarrhea,
More plants
In the north of the country is the arctic tundra, where there is practically
no vegetation other than lichens, mosses, shrubs and small wild flowers. In
contrast, subtropical vegetation, including cacti and palm trees, characterizes
the Okanagan Valley.
The water lilies are a common sight in the eastern parts of the country, but the
carnivorous trumpet leaf also grows almost everywhere, as well as berries such
as raspberries and blueberries.
Purple loosestrife grows on roads, ditches and swamp meadows, while lupins can
mainly be found in fields.
The flower symbol of the province of Ontario is the trefoil. It is a very rare
genus, but it also grows in North America.
Spruce asparagus is also very rare and unusual. It is about 15-25 cm tall and
has a pale yellowish stem that turns black with age. Since it does not have any
chlorophyll-containing leaves, it depends on the symbiosis with fungi, which
supply it with nutrients via the roots. In return, the spruce asparagus releases
vitamins to the fungus that it cannot produce itself.
Orchids are common in Canada. To date, around 200 different types of orchid have
been counted.
The home of the giant tree of life was originally western North America.
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