Animals | The Canadian Encyclopedia

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  • Article

    Eastern Hog-Nosed Snake

    The Eastern hog-nosed snake (Heterodon platirhinos) is a medium-sized snake with an upturned scale on the end of its snout. The scale gives the snake a pig- or hog-like appearance. In Canada, Eastern hog-nosed snakes are found in Southern Ontario south of the Canadian Shield. They are also found in the Eastern United States as far south as Florida and Texas. The Eastern hog-nosed snake is well-known for its elaborate defensive display: first, the snake flattens its neck into a cobra-like hood, and if that does not deter predators, it flips onto its back and plays dead. (See also Snake Species in Canada.)

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/EasternHogNosedSnake/EasternHognoseSnakeFlatNeck.jpg Eastern Hog-Nosed Snake
  • Article

    Echinodermata

    Echinodermata [Gk "spiny skin"], phylum of exclusively marine invertebrate animals. The 6000 known species occur from shores to greatest depths of all oceans.

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  • Article

    Eel

    Eel, snakelike fish of class Actinopterygii, order Anguilliformes (or Apodes).

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  • Article

    Endangered Animals in Canada

    Many animals in Canada face the risk of extinction. Animals are put at risk for several reasons, including: climate change, the loss of forest and grassland to cities and agriculture, hunting, fishing, and the pollution of lakes and rivers. As of 2021, 554 animal species are at risk in Canada, according to the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada. In addition, 18 are extirpated and 18 extinct. The committee’s definition of a wildlife species includes taxonomic categories as well as geographically distinct populations. For example, the beluga whale (Delphinapterus leucas) is included in the list of at risk animal species six times, as there are six different populations facing different threats to their survival. (See also Endangered Plants in Canada.)

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  • Article

    Entomology

    Entomology is the branch of zoology dealing with the study of insects, although which organisms are included is open to interpretation.

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  • List

    Extinct Animals in Canada

    As of May 2021, 18 animal species once found in Canada are now extinct, according to the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC). The committee’s definition of a wildlife species includes taxonomic categories as well as geographically distinct populations. For example, the Atlantic salmon appears on COSEWIC’s list of at-risk species 15 times, as there are 15 populations of Atlantic salmon in Canada facing different threats to their survival. Similarly, when one of these populations goes extinct — as was the case for Atlantic salmon in Lake Ontario in 1898 — there are specific, cascading effects for the ecosystem that the population belongs to. Communities may lose fishing opportunities and other animals may lose a source of food. Though the Atlantic salmon is an example of a species with populations still observable in the wild, this list of 18 also includes animals that no longer exist anywhere on the planet, such as the sea mink or great auk. The reasons for the extinction of these animals range from overhunting to predation from invasive species to,­ in the case of the Eelgrass limpet, a plight of slime mould.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/ExtinctAnimalList/GreatAukPainting.jpg Extinct Animals in Canada
  • Article

    Falcon

        The falcon (family Falconidae) is a small to medium-sized predatory bird noted for its swiftness in flight.

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  • Article

    Finch

    Finch is a common name for one of the larger bird families, Fringillidae, which occurs worldwide (introduced in Australia). It includes some GROSBEAKS, crossbills, Hawaiian honey creepers, redpolls, siskins and birds specifically named finches.

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  • Article

    Fish Classification

    The classification of fishes has undergone much change over the last few decades, and further changes are expected, partly because so many groups are poorly known.

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  • Article

    Fisher

    The Fisher (Martes pennanti) is a member of the weasel family, with a typically pointed face and rounded ears. In Canada, fishers live in the boreal and temperate forests of almost all the provinces and territories, with the exception of Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island.

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  • Article

    Fish

    Fishes are members of a large, heterogeneous group of vertebrates living in a wide variety of aquatic habitats.

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  • List

    Five Prehistoric Canadian Animals

    Many animals found in Canada have become part of the country’s iconography. The beaver, the caribou, the loon and the polar bear, for example, all grace our currency, while moose, narwhals and others are pictured in regional emblems. If asked to name the creatures that roamed Canada long before these familiar ones, many might cite Tyrannosaurus rex or Triceratops, two of the 88 species of dinosaur found here (see Dinosaurs Found in Canada). But between dinosaurs and today’s beavers — a period of about 225 million years — whole ecosystems flourished and disappeared in Canada, and networks of animals with them. Below are five prehistoric Canadian animals. Two of them, Albertonectes and Cryodrakon, were contemporaries of the dinosaurs. Three others, the giant beaver, mammoth, and American mastodon, existed millennia later.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/GiantBeaver/GiantBeaver.jpg Five Prehistoric Canadian Animals
  • Article

    Flatfish

    Flatfish is the common name for fish belonging to the order Pleuronectiformes. There are 14 families of flatfish and over 800 species worldwide. In Canadian waters there are approximately 39 species of flatfish, from five families. These families are Pleuronectidae, Bothidae, Paralichthyidae, Scophthalmidae and Cynoglossidae. Familiar flatfishes found in Canada include halibut, plaice, flounder and turbot. Among their distinguishing features, flatfish have both eyes on one side of their body.

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    https://d3d0lqu00lnqvz.cloudfront.net/media/new_article_images/FlatFish/winter_flounder4_NOAA.jpg Flatfish
  • Article

    Flatworm

    Flatworm (Platyhelminthes), phylum of soft, bilaterally symmetrical invertebrates. Flatworms vary in shape from leaflike to ribbonlike; size ranges from microscopic to over 15 m long (some parasitic forms).

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  • Article

    Flea

    Fleas are very small, wingless, laterally flattened insects of the order Siphonaptera. They’re best known for being external parasites on mammals and occasionally birds. Adult fleas live in the fur or feathers of their hosts, feeding on their blood to survive and reproduce. While fleas do feed off humans, more common host animals include rodents, dogs and cats. The “human” flea, Pulex irritans, actually attacks a broad range of mammal species, and the same is true of most flea species that bite humans. About 2,000 species and subspecies are known worldwide, with at least 127 found in Canada, most of them in British Columbia and Alberta.

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