Canada

América del Norte

Capital: OttawaJune to September

435

Documented species

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Canada holds the largest expanse of intact boreal forest on the planet, an unbroken belt of conifers, peatlands and lakes that crosses the country from coast to coast and stores gigantic amounts of carbon. To the north, the Arctic tundra and the polar archipelago hold polar bears, muskoxen, Arctic foxes and the caribou herds behind one of the last great land migrations in the northern hemisphere. To the west, the Rockies and the temperate rainforest of the Pacific coast, with Douglas firs and thousand-year-old cedars, support brown bears that feed on salmon and carry their nutrients deep into the forest. In the east, the Bay of Fundy records the highest tides in the world and feeds a tidal mudflat ecosystem that sustains millions of migrating shorebirds.

The nature of Canada

National animal: The North American beaver, an official national animal since 1975, alongside the Canadian horse

Did you know?

Every autumn, the polar bears of Hudson Bay gather near the town of Churchill waiting for the sea to freeze again so they can hunt seals. Their presence is so routine that the town keeps a compound known as the bear jail, where problem animals are held temporarily before being flown out by helicopter well away from the houses, and where they are deliberately not fed so they never learn to associate people with food.

Biodiversity profile

America del Norte (segundo pais mas extenso del mundo)13,8% de tierras y aguas dulces y 15,5% de areas marinas protegidas a diciembre de 2024, por debajo de la meta intermedia del 25% para 2025 en el marco del objetivo nacional 30x30 para 2030

Climate

•Subartico (Dfc) en gran parte del territorio boreal
•Polar/tundra en el extremo norte y el Artico
•Continental humedo (Dfb) en el sur poblado
•Oceanico templado (Cfb) en la costa de Columbia Britanica

Main biomes

•Bosque boreal/taiga (segundo bioma terrestre mas grande del planeta, Canada alberga una porcion mayoritaria del bosque boreal mundial)
•Tundra artica
•Bosque templado lluvioso de la costa del Pacifico (Columbia Britanica)
•Praderas (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba)
•Bosque boreal
•Selva templada lluviosa del Pacífico
•Pradera de hierbas altas
•Fango mareal
•Alta montaña de las Rocosas
•Turbera

Marine and coastal ecosystems

•Costas atlantica, pacifica y artica (Canada tiene la linea de costa mas larga del mundo)
•Bahia de Hudson, area clave para osos polares y belugas

Flagship wildlife

•Oso polar (Canada alberga aproximadamente dos tercios de la poblacion mundial)
•Caribu (varias subespecies, incluido el caribu de Peary del Alto Artico)
•Alce
•Grulla trompetera (unica poblacion migratoria natural autosuficiente del mundo, cria en Wood Buffalo)
•Narval y beluga (Artico canadiense)
•Castor americano
•Alce americano
•Oso pardo
•Lobo gris
•Ballena beluga
•Águila calva
•Colimbo grande
•Buey almizclero

Notable endemic species

•Mas de 300 especies de plantas y animales nacionalmente endemicas de Canada segun el primer informe exhaustivo de NCC/NatureServe Canada
•Oso Kermode o "oso espiritu" (subespecie de oso negro de pelaje blanco, restringida a la costa central de Columbia Britanica)
•Caribu de Peary (casi endemico, Alto Artico)
•Marta de Terranova (subespecie restringida a la isla de Terranova)
•Marmota de la isla de Vancouver

Notable threatened species

•363 especies catalogadas En Peligro, 190 Amenazadas, 235 de Preocupacion Especial y 22 extirpadas (2022)
•31 especies completamente extintas desde el siglo XVI (incluye 19 extintas + 22 extirpadas, aunque las cifras pueden solaparse segun la fuente)
•Oso polar, lince, nutria marina, huron de patas negras, foca capuchina, grulla trompetera y ballena sei entre las especies en riesgo

Notable protected areas

•Parque Nacional Wood Buffalo (mayor parque nacional de Canada, habitat de la grulla trompetera y el bisonte de bosque)
•Nueva Reserva de Parque Nacional de la Cuenca del Rio Seal (Manitoba, habitat de osos polares y caribu)
•Areas Protegidas y Conservadas Indigenas (IPCA), con creciente protagonismo en la estrategia nacional
•Parque Nacional de Banff
•Parque Nacional de Jasper
•Reserva del Gran Oso
•Bahía de Fundy
•Parque Nacional de Nahanni

Main conservation threats

•Solo el 4,5% del bosque boreal cuenta con proteccion formal pese a su enorme relevancia para biodiversidad y carbono
•Solo el 10% de los puntos calientes de biodiversidad dentro del area de distribucion del caribu boreal esta cubierto por la red de areas protegidas actual
•Cambio climatico sobre el hielo marino artico, critico para osos polares, narvales y belugas

Notable natural phenomena

•El bosque boreal canadiense almacena el doble de carbono por acre que los bosques tropicales
•Ruta de migracion natural de la grulla trompetera entre Wood Buffalo (Canada) y la costa del Golfo de EEUU

Conservation

Wood Buffalo, the country's largest park, protects the last natural breeding ground of the whooping crane, which was down to fifteen or so birds in the 1940s and has been recovering ever since. Woodland caribou populations are declining as the taiga becomes fragmented.

Where and when to watch wildlife

Churchill between October and November for polar bears. The British Columbia coast between August and October for brown bears fishing salmon. The Bay of Fundy in August for migrating shorebirds.

Sources: The Globe and Mail - Ottawa announces $3.8-billion nature strategy | NRDC - Canada's Boreal Forest | Made in CA - Wildlife Conservation Statistics Canada | Storymaps NCC/NatureServe - Endemic species of Canada | cdnsciencepub - Protected areas in boreal Canada

Temperate forest Grassland Polar Tundra