The Caribou

Used for the first time in 1937, the caribou design was created by Emanuel Hahn. The entire body of the animal was shown on the design originally submitted by Hahn, but a revised image featuring only the head was adopted.

This design dates back to 1936 when the Canadian government decided to take advantage of a change in the image of the sovereign to modify the designs on the reverse side of the coins as well.

Although the caribou is one of Canada’s most widely distributed large mammals, most Canadians recognize it as the animal on the 25-cent piece. An ideal representative of Canadian wildlife, this gregarious and curious animal is a familiar sight in northern Canada. It travels in bands of 10 to 50, and, during migration, in herds of up to 100,000.

The Inuit of Canada and many Aboriginal peoples have based their culture on the caribou, and could not have survived in the north without them. Some tribes were nomadic and followed the herds year-round. The Caribou provided them with food, clothing and shelter. Its bones were made into needles and utensils, its antlers into tools, and its sinews into thread or "babiche." The fat provided fuel for heat and light; the skin was made into light, warm clothing and tent material; and the flesh served as food for both humans and dogs.

Before the arrival of the Europeans, who came armed with rifles and in search of furs, there were probably at least 3 million barren-ground caribou. Their numbers declined thereafter and for a time it was feared that the caribou, like the plains bison, might be in danger of extinction. However, an exhaustive, range-wide survey by Canadian Wildlife Service biologists in 1967 revealed that the decline had stopped. Barren-ground caribou now number about 1.3 million.

For more information on the caribou symbol, please see the following sources:
Environment Canada: www.cws-scf.ec.gc.ca/hww-fap/caribou/caribou.php
Royal Canadian Mint: www.mint.ca
Marquis, Yvon (1985), La monnaie canadienne : son histoire, sa collection, page 35.