canadian animals and wildlife span the spectrum from the very coldest, most severe climates of the Arctic Circle to the more temperate regions of the great plains of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the mild pacific northwest of Vancouver and British Colombia to the rainy grey of the maritime provinces. While canadian animals and wildlife aren't quite as diverse as their American neighbors, Canada is still one of the most spectacular, all-encompassing wildlife regions on the planet.
Perhaps the most famous of canadian animals, and certainly one of the largest, is the moose. The moose's range is massive; it can be found in almost all parts of Canada, with the only exception being the sections north of the Arctic Circle. The only canadian province where the moose wasn't native was Newfoundland. But even there, the moose has thrived since its introduction a century ago. It has now displaced elk and deer and has become the dominant hoofed animal on the island.
Because the moose is so large it has few predators. However, a hungry enough grizzly or polar bear, or an opportunistic wolfpack will take down a moose - usually a lame, old or young moose - if the opportunity presents itself.
Speaking of, the grizzly bear, the polar bear and the wolf are the three apex predators among canadian animals.
Of the three, the polar bear is both the largest and the most endangered. The polar bear, as a matter of fact, is the world's largest carnivore and a large male can weigh in at more than fifteen hundred pounds. Its large size makes it a formidable predator, and it feeds on a steady diet of seals in the hunting season before wintering in a den it will make. There are somewhere between twenty and twenty-five thousand polar bears in the world, with a range that extends from just below the arctic circle nearly to the north pole (though they are rare above the eighty eighth latitude).
The grizzly bear is somewhat smaller than the polar bear, and less endangered, but still threatened. Historically its range is from north-central Mexico all the way to the arctic circle, but the past two centuries have seen the grizzly bear populations in Mexico and the United States all but wiped out. Today they are found primarily in Canada, and as a result are one of the canadian animals most closely associated with the country.