Not my story: What it means to be bison people
Views from Buffalo Treaty Signing Ceremony at Prince Albert National Park (Photo by Anthony Johnson)
I really like telling stories about the crazy things that happen to me at work. I also like telling other people’s crazy stories that I haven’t even witnessed. Ask me about the adventures of my buddy Tyler. He gets up to some...
Badgered into respecting the wild
American badger (Photo by Max Allen/Shutterstock)
It was my co-worker Emily's and my first day out in the field without a manager — the training wheels were off. We were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to impress the property land managers with a thorough property inspection. This...
10 species protected thanks to Conservation Volunteers, coast to coast
Juvenile burrowing owls (Photo by Lauren Meads)
So far this year, hundreds of volunteers from across the country have gathered to lend a hand for nature at events hosted by the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC). Whether it was removing invasive species wreaking havoc on a delicate forest, or...
Parasitism: The dark side of symbiosis
Sand steenbras infected with tongue-eating louse (Photo by Marco Vinci/Wikimedia Commons)
In nature, when two individuals of different species often live in close association with each other, this leads to a phenomenon called symbiosis. There are three types of symbiosis: Mutualism is a win-win situation for both organisms because...
Why I believe that zoos help conservation
Riley snaps a photo with the Toronto Zoo's alpacas (Photo courtesy of Riley Harding)
As a conservationist and wildlife supporter, I get a lot of head turns when I say that I support zoos. I’m the first to acknowledge that some have a history of being grim tourist destinations; however, I know first-hand the positive impact...
Saving the planet, one species at a time
Eastern mountain avens (Photo by June Swift)
Save the oceans. Save the rainforest. Save the planet. These are all incredible, daunting, pursuit-worthy goals, but to a student in Nova Scotia, these problems seem very distant. Although we ultimately all feel the effects of environmental...
A species' international highway
White-tailed deer (Photo by Lorne)
Humans aren’t the only creatures on Earth that need to get around. Animals in the wild have to travel as well, some to migrate, some to hunt and others to find mates. And that explains the importance of the Frontenac Arch, a...
Cracker Jack and caribou: Are we failing Canada’s species at risk?
Black-footed ferret (Photo by U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Mountain Prairie)
I lost my Cracker Jack wildlife cards sometime in the 1980s, but the images printed on the cards are still vivid in my mind. The small cards came wrapped in clear plastic and featured a holographic image of a wildlife species in danger. I can...
Ten of nature's strangest mating strategies
Angler fish (Photo by David Shale)
During my final year of university, I took a course called Evolution and Reproduction, which explored various animal mating strategies. It was one of my most fascinating classes; the material was mind blowing, the professor was a hoot and the...
Why Canada matters on World Wetlands Day
Wetlands in the Marion Creek Benchlands, British Columbia (Photo by Tim Ennis/NCC)
While other nations have picked wetland wildlife, such as Finland’s whooper swan or Pakistan’s Indus crocodile, to represent their country, Canada is the only country in the world that has selected a wetland engineer as its national...
