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| The first glass container to bear a 'brand' was made about 3,500 years ago, and carried the name of the Egyptian Pharoah Thutmose III. | |
Cool Bear on Ecozones
Canadians live in a very large and diverse country. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in our natural world. Tens of thousands of plant and animal species can be found within our boarders, each occupying a specific habitat or niche. By traveling and seeing images of our country, we know that the environment is different from one place to another. The different species, climates, soils, and water cycles make ecological systems unique from place to place. As species, soils and weather can be easily recorded, these specific environments have been catalogued. At the finest scale scientists have identified 194 different terrestrial ecoregions within Canada.
In the Cycle of Life, we have decided to make things really easy to understand; we have chosen to represent Canada using seven terrestrial and three marine ecozones. While the distinctions between neighbouring ecozones appears clear and defined on a map, in reality, ecozones grade naturally into one another over long distances.
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Terrestrial Ecozones 1 Pacific Maritime 2 Montane 3 Grasslands 4 Great Lakes/St. Lawrence 5 Atlantic Maritime 6 Boreal 7 Arctic Marine Ecozones 8a Atlantic Marine 8b Pacific Marine 8c Arctic Marine Download a high resolution Ecozone Map (PDF file 100Kb) |
Endangered and at-risk species in Canada
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| Blanding's Turtle (Atlantic Maritime Ecozone) | Burrowing Owl (Grasslands Ecozone) | |
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| American Badger (Montane Ecozone) | Whooping Crane (Boreal Ecozone) | |
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| Southern Flying Squirrel (Great Lakes Ecozone) | Vancouver Island Marmot (Pacific Maritime Ecozone) | |
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| Beringia Butterfly (Arctic Ecozone) | Atlantic Cod (Atlantic Marine Ecozone) | |
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| Orcas (Pacific Marine Ecozone) | Bowhead Whale (Arctic Marine Ecozone) |
Cool Bear on Extinction
When the last individual of a species of plant, animal, or other living organism dies, that species is extinct. Dinosaurs are extinct. The big Woolly Mammoths and Giant Bison that roamed Canada only 10,000 years ago are extinct. Extinctions have happened naturally throughout the long life of the earth. dino
A Brief History of Canada
In North America (as in Asia, Europe, and Australia), the large mammalian and bird faunas were severely impacted as humans spread around the globe. Humans became one of the most effective predators on the planet and our hunting of large animals contributed, in part, to their disappearance. For the last 20,000 years humans have been driving an extinction that parallels the extinctions caused by chance global disasters. The rate of extinctions has increased markedly as the human population has grown exponentially and industrialization has increased our ability to alter ecosystems.
In the last 250 years at least 11 different Canadian species have gone extinct. Many more, such as the Vancouver Island Marmot and Newfoundland Pine Marten, are teetering on the edge. Extinction is natural process, but the way that humans are impacting the planet is unlike any other event in the long history of the world. And, it is not right.
Extinct Species in Canada
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Just a few extinct species in Canada Passenger Pigeon (Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Ecozone)
Sea Mink (Atlantic Maritime Ecozone)
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Future of Life (English) Future de la Vie (Français)