Natural History

Natural History in Canada

Many think of Canada as a young country, but is it?

Millions of years ago dinosaurs roamed the badlands of Alberta. One of these dinosaurs was Euoplocephalus. This squat 2.5 metric ton dinosaur was covered with bony armour – even its eyelids were protected by moveable, bony plates.

The dinosaurs vanished about 63 million years ago. Since then, there have been several ice ages.

The last North American glaciation ended approximately 12,000 years ago. At the time, most of Canada was covered by ice. As the ice melted, receding glaciers carved rivers and streams. Some ice age plants and wildlife survived in Alaska and the Yukon. But many ice age animals, such as the 218-kg giant beaver, became extinct.

For about 12,000 years, Aboriginal people lived off Canada’s rich land. They hunted the plentiful wildlife, such as bison. Aboriginal people also fished Canada’s pristine lakes and rivers, and they grew crops, such as corn.

This natural world permanently changed with the first European settlements in Canada in the early 1600s.

This section is about Canada’s natural history.