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Canada, federated country of North America, bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean; on the Northeast by Baffin Bay and Davis Strait, which separate it from Greenland; on the east by the Atlantic Ocean; on the south by the United States; and on the west by the Pacific Ocean and Alaska. Canada is the world's second largest country, surpassed in size only by Russia. Canada has a total area of 9, 970, 610 sq. km (3, 849, 652 sq.
mi), of which 755, 180 sq. km (291, 575 sq. mi) is covered by bodies of fresh water such as rivers and lakes (Canadian Encyclopaedia, 1988). Canada contains great reserves of natural resources, notably timber, petroleum, natural gas, metallic minerals, and fish. The name Canada is derived from an Iroquois term meaning "village" or "community. " In Canada we have many images, practices, and items that make us one of the best, younger countries in the world. In such a short time for a country to exist, we have many images that make us very culturally rich in every way.
Probably the most important images, practices, and items come for our friend, the American Indians (or Native Americans). They were a definite asset to Canada's cultural growth. The American Indians came into Canada in a series of migrations that occurred during the last stages of the Pleistocene Ice Age, Mongoloid peoples from Asia entered North America, probably crossing the Bering Strait. Gradually they spread over the continent and into South America. By 1600, more than 250, 000 of their aboriginal descendants inhabited what is now Canada. Developing a Stone Age economy, they hunted, fished, and gathered food and, in warmer areas, also farmed.
The basic social unit was the band, which varied from a few families to several hundred people. In areas of higher settlement density, bands were organised into tribes and even larger units. The largest linguistic group was the Algonquian, which included migratory hunting tribes such as the Cree and Naskapi in the eastern sub-arctic region and the Abenaki and Micmac in the eastern woodlands on the coast. By the 18 th century, Algonquians had spread west, where Ottawa, Ojibwa, Blackfoot, Plains Cree, and others roamed the prairies and plains in search of buffalo. The Iroquoian speaking tribes the Huron and the Iroquoislived in permanent farm settlements and had a highly developed tribal organisation in the St. Lawrence Valley and around Lakes Ontario and Erie (Canadian Encyclopaedia, 1988).
Tribes of Salishan, Athabascan, and other linguistic groups occupied fishing villages along the rivers of interior British Columbia. On the Pacific coast, Salishan tribes, such as the Bellacoola, and related Wakashan-speaking tribes the Kwakiutl and Nootka developed a rich culture, based on salmon fishing, expressed in potlatch ceremonies and carved wood totem poles. In the western subarctic, the Athabascan group Carrier, Dogrib, and others led a primitive hunting existence similar to that of the Algonquians. Small, isolated Inuit bands developed a unique culture based on hunting seals and caribou, enabling them to survive the harsh environment of the Arctic (Canadian Encyclopaedia, 1988).
As we can see the Indians gave us many items that give us our culture, Native Indians can be said that they are basically our culture. Whatever they have as images, items, or practices, are ours also. We can tell from the Natives that they feel that the animal kingdom was an important part of their lives. They show this from the things they hunt and the items they make (totem poles, with many sacred animals carved into them). Some very important Canadian animals are: bison (buffalo), caribou, salmon, beaver, loon, and the moose. These animal images are distinctly Canadian.
Some of these animals live elsewhere, but when people think of theses animals, they think Canada. Bison, the largest terrestrial animal in North America, where it is usually called buffalo. The bison is characterized by a hump over the front shoulders; short, sharply pointed horns (in both sexes) curving outward and up from the sides of the massive head; and slimmer hindquarters. A mature bull of the North American bison is about 2 m (about 6. 5 ft) high at the hump and 2. 7 to 3. 7 m (9 to 12 ft) long and weighs 850 to 1100 kg (1800 to 2400 lb); the female is smaller. The head, neck, forelegs, and front parts of the body have a thick coat of long, dark hair. The rear part of the body is covered with much shorter hair.
The adult bull usually has a black beard about 30 cm (about 12 in) long (Canadian Encyclopaedia, 1988). Until the 19 th century, as many as 60 million bison lived on the Great Plains from Mexico into Canada, and some were found east of the Mississippi River. They were central to the existence of the Plains peoples, who used them for food, hides, and bone implements; even the dried dung, called buffalo chips, was used as fuel (Canadian Encyclopaedia, 1988). Barren Ground caribou are native to the tundra regions of northern Canada, Greenland, and Alaska. Historically, the Inuit (Eskimo) living in arctic regions have depended on these animals for survival, using every part of the body for food, implements, or clothing. The caribou usually live in small herds of cows and calves and a few bulls.
Most of the older bulls stay in separate small bands, except during rut, and travel on the fringes of migrating herds (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1975). Atlantic Salmon, the true salmon, the largest members of the salmon family, are characterized by tasty flesh that is often orange-red. The common salmon of the North Atlantic Ocean that is sent to market averages about 7 kg (about 15 lb) in weight, but specimens weighing more than 45 kg (more than 100 lb) have been caught. The Atlantic salmon migrates to cold, fresh water in late spring or early summer, swimming upstream at an average rate of up to 6. 4 km (4 mi) per day.
Because salmon can jump as much as 3. 7 m (12 ft) out of water, they clear most obstacles in their path. The female lays as many as 20, 000 eggs in October or November, after which time the adult salmon float downstream and return to the sea (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1975). Unlike the various species of Pacific salmon, the Atlantic salmon does not die after its first spawning but returns year after year to its breeding place. The newly hatched young, which are known as parrs or brandling's because of the dark transverse markings on their sides, remain in fresh water for about two years. At this time, the young, which are known as smolts and which have become silvery in colour, descend to the sea.
Upon the first return of the Atlantic salmon to its spawning ground, the fish is known as a grilse. After spawning, it is known as a Kelt. Adult males travelling toward the spawning grounds are known as dog salmon (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1975). Several subspecies of the Atlantic salmon live in the lakes of the northern United States without ever descending to sea; such salmon are known as landlocked salmon. Landlocked salmon are much smaller than are migrating salmon, attaining a maximum weight of about 16 kg (about 35 lb). The two most important landlocked populations of the Atlantic salmon are the Sebago salmon, found from New Hampshire to New Brunswick, and the ouananiche, of Lac Saint-Jean, Canada (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1975).
Beaver, semiaquatic mammal noted for...
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