Canada's most iconic animals

[Catherine]

We do have a set of animals that seem to be part of out Canadian identity. (like kangaroos and Australia)

I think they are animals that we can be proud of and I can say that I have seen most of them in the wild.


http://news.google.ca/news/url?sr=1&ct2=...t=2&at=dt0


I would love to see the whale. I think they are a rare sight. The racoon however, I can see one in my back yard sitting on my garden swing actually swinging. They do make themselves at home.

[cathie]

You're fortunate to have seen most in the Wild, I've seen most at the Zoo. other than raccoons which seem to be everywhere in the City.

[Catherine]

I have seen six of them in the wild, three in the zoo and the puffin and beluga whale I have never seen.

The lynx, polar bear and snowy owl have been zoo experiences. I might have seen lynx tracks in the snow. There are snowy owls around so I will see one eventually. I saw a grizzly and cub when I was hiking, but they were a long way down the mountain from us and they did not see us. The pine martin raided our food box one winter when we were staying in a youth hostel. He took our frozen peas, the whole bag.

They are all such special animals. We are lucky in this country.

[Tobi]

You have some amazing animals in Canada. We have Puffins here in GB and I have seen them, on a boat trip just off Anglesey, North Wales, when I was about 13. We had to sail out a while, to a place called "Puffin Island".

I don't really know what our British "Iconic animals" are...possibly Red Squirrel (which is slowly coming back) Roe and red deer....Badger....Barn owl....fox?

[Catherine]

When I think of England, I think of the badger and the hedgehog. The red fox also comes to mind. You also have the robin and the cuckoo.  Your robin is such a cute little fellow. Your hedgehogs are charming little creatures and we all love them.

Every country has so special animals that the world recognizes.

You have to admit that Australia hit the jackpot with koalas. Nothing is cuter than a koala.

[Libby]

So apparently I can't read.  I read ironic not iconic.  I clicked on the link and was scrolling though trying to figure out how these 10 animals are ironic.  Then I happened to glance at the title again and read iconic...  

[platy]

I really must be the only one who isn't that big a fan of koalas. They don't do anything! We have much more interesting animals than that.

Surprised the killer whales didn't make the list, but Canada seriously has an amazing collection.

[Catherine]

Quote:Surprised the killer whales didn't make the list, but Canada seriously has an amazing collection.

We do have some interesting animals. I think we just can't claim orcas as ours. They belong to the whole planet. We didn't claim the monarch butterfly either.
I think we like koalas because they are so cute and do nothing.  Our racoons do lots and they are not loved by everyone

Quote:So apparently I can't read.  I read ironic not iconic.  I clicked on the link and was scrolling though trying to figure out how these 10 animals are ironic.  Then I happened to glance at the title again and read iconic...  

So I am not the only one who does that with words. Sometimes what I read is funnier than what was written.

Ironic animals? That is going to take some thinking. Are there any ironic animals? If not why not?

How about some kind of breed of water dog that doesn't like water and can't swim.
I am sure there are ironic lizards. There must be at least one species of skink that is ironic.

[Cibach]

I have been thinking about this, and I don't think Wales has any "exclusive" animals. Most of our wildlife is also present elsewhere in the UK or Europe.
At one time we had the last few pair of Red Kites, we used to see a pair nest in the tall trees at the top of the field next to us. But Red Kites have been reintroduced to many other parts of the UK now and appear to be thriving.
Our most Iconic creature would, I suppose, have to be our National Symbol which is the Red Dragon or Y Ddraig Goch, but I can't say that I've seen one about lately, unless fluttering on a flag counts!!

[Catherine]

Yes, Red Dragons are rather rare. Do let us know if you see one.  You don't have a lot of animals, but you do make up for it with quality. Red Dragons are is a class all be themselves.