Alberta has the bighorn sheep. Manitoba has the plains bison. Yukon has the raven. So what’s Ontario’s official animal?
We don’t have one — yet.
The loon is our official bird, but we can’t help but think that Ontario’s other furry and feathery (and slippery and leathery) denizens haven’t been given a chance to compete.
That’s why, over the next eight weeks, TVO.org will be giving 16 Ontario animals their turn in the spotlight. You’ll learn about how they live, what threats they’re facing, and how they reflect the province’s character. At the end of the series, you’ll get the chance to make your voice heard — and to vote for your favourite critter.
The winner may not end up on a flag or a coat of arms. But they’ll get a fancy title: Ontario’s unofficial official animal.
Click here for complete voting information, including matchup schedules.
Verzameling van uitlandsche en zeldzaame vogelen, 1772-1781. (Biodiversity Heritage Library/Flickr)
Species/scientific name: Rangifer tarandus
Adult size: 1-1.2 metres at the shoulder
Adult weight: 110-210 kilograms
Longevity: 13-17 years
Feeding and diet: Lichen and other vegetation, like the leaves of birch and willow trees, grasses, and sedges
Predators: Wolves, bears, humans
Threats: Habitat loss and habitat fragmentation caused by development and resource extraction
Habitat: Woodland boreal caribou live in the boreal forest, while eastern migratory caribou live in the tundra and the boreal forest
Range: Boreal caribou can be found north of Sioux Lookout, Geraldton, and Cochrane; there are small, isolated populations along Lake Superior’s islands and shoreline. Eastern migratory caribou can be found along the Hudson Bay coastline in the spring and summer and in the boreal forest in the fall and winter.
Population in Ontario: By some estimates, there are around 5,000 boreal caribou in Ontario, but this is likely inaccurate as there hasn’t been a population estimate for at least 10 years.
Conservation status in Ontario: Boreal caribou are threatened, while eastern migratory caribou are of “special concern.”
(KILands.org/Ontario Nature)
Justina Ray has been fortunate enough to witness what few other Ontarians will ever get the chance to: a group of a thousand or more caribou moving across Ontario’s Far North — extending as far as the eye could see.
Ray, president and senior scientist at Wildlife Conservation Society Canada, has been studying the “majestic creatures” for 15 years. “You fall in love with the animals first through their tracks, because they’re such beautiful patterns,” says Ray.
“You’re flying for a while … then coming across a collection of tracks that are crossing large open areas … and then you come upon them. I’ve been privileged enough to be able to see wildlife spectacles like that, and caribou never disappoint in that respect. They’re very symbolic and illustrative of wild, remote places that we have not yet spoiled through industrial development.”
(Ian Gillies/Ontario Nature)
Ontario is home to two distinct types of caribou that have “very different social structures,” says Ray. Year-round forest-dwelling boreal caribou typically live in small groups, and females leave the herd to birth their calves alone. There’s also a migratory population of caribou that, during the spring and summer, lives in large groups along the Hudson Bay coastline. Migratory caribou birth their calves together, later dispersing to the boreal forest in small groups in the winter.
Caribou, also known as reindeer, have adaptations that make them well suited to their environment. Their double coat, which does not freeze, features hollow hairs that insulate against frigid temperatures and help with buoyancy in water. A caribou’s diet consists of vegetation like leaves and grasses; unlike most animals, they’re able to digest lichen, a composite organism made up of algae and fungi that they can sniff out and dig up in deep snow. Their foot pads also change with the seasons: they’re fleshier in the summer and then shrink, harden, and become covered with fur in the winter, which aids traction.
Wild fact: Both male and female caribou grow antlers.
It’s estimated that there are about 5,000 boreal caribou in the province, but “that’s a total guess,” says Ray, adding that “there haven’t been any population estimates now for at least 10 years.” Both populations of caribou are at risk: boreal caribou were added to the Endangered Species Act upon its inception in 2008, and eastern migratory caribou were listed as a species of special concern in 2018. Primary threats to Ontario’s caribou are habitat loss and fragmentation due to development and resource extraction.
“Roads are a driving factor, because roads fragment the habitat, and they also change the way predators work. Predators have increased visibility and increased success rates,” explains Rachel Plotkin, who advocates for wildlife protection as the boreal project manager with the David Suzuki Foundation. “Also, things like clearcut logging. When an area is logged, new browse grows up, and then the new browse attracts moose and deer, and those attract more predators. The predators don’t discriminate.”
Endangered Ontario: Caribou
In April, Ontario and Canada signed a boreal-caribou conservation agreement, which will see both levels of government contribute $5 million of funding each through 2023 for habitat restoration and conservation, among other initiatives. But environmental groups say that the plan “encourages the clearing of habitat and fails to rein in the destructive practices that are responsible for putting caribou at risk in the first place.”
Caribou are known as an umbrella species, which means “they are a species whose habitat needs align with other forest-dwelling species,” says Plotkin. “So, if you protect the habitat of the boreal woodland caribou, you’re also protecting the habitat of a number of other species by proxy.”
(Geoffrey Reynaud/iStock)
Plotkin, who “felt so lucky” when she had the chance to watch caribou crossing the road in Newfoundland, says “most people will never see caribou.” People may find it difficult to connect with an animal they’ve never seen before, she says, “but I think that our imagination is one thing. Kids love dinosaurs even though they’ve never seen a living dinosaur.”
Ontario Hubs are made possible by the Barry and Laurie Green Family Charitable Trust & Goldie Feldman.
This series is produced with the assistance of Ontario Nature.