List of mammals of Canada

This is a list of the mammal species recorded in Canada. There are approximately 200 mammal species in Canada.[1] Its large territorial size consist of fifteen terrestrial and five marine ecozones, ranging from oceanic coasts, to mountains to plains to urban housing, mean that Canada can harbour a great variety of species, including nearly half of the known cetaceans.[2] The largest marine ecozone is the Arctic Archipelago whereas the terrestrial ecozone is the Boreal Shield.[3] The most well represented order is that of the rodents, and the smallest that of the Didelphimorphia (common opossums).

Studies of mammals in Canada hearken back to the 1795 northern explorations of Samuel Hearne, whose account is considered surprisingly accurate. The first seminal work on Canadian mammals, however, was John Richardson's 1829 Fauna Boreali-Americana. Joseph Burr Tyrrell was the first to attempt to produce, in 1888, a comprehensive list of Canadian mammalian species. Ernest Thompson Seton and Charles-Eusèbe Dionne's work were also important. Modern Canadian publications with interest in mammalogy include The Canadian Field-Naturalist, the Canadian Journal of Zoology and the French-language Le Naturaliste Canadien.[A]

Several species of mammal have particular symbolism. The Canadian horse and North American beaver are official symbols of Canada,[B] and several provinces have designated native species as symbols.

The North American beaver, Castor canadensis, is the national animal of Canada

Conservation status - IUCN Red List of Threatened Species:

EX Extinct No reasonable doubt that the last individual has died.
EW Extinct in the wild Known only to survive in captivity or as a naturalized population well outside its previous range.
CR Critically endangered The species is in imminent risk of extinction in the wild.
EN Endangered The species is facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
VU Vulnerable The species is facing a high risk of extinction in the wild.
NT Near threatened The species does not meet any of the criteria that would categorise it as risking extinction but it is likely to do so in the future.
LC Least concern There are no current identifiable risks to the species.
DD Data deficient There is inadequate information to make an assessment of the risks to this species.
NE Not evaluated Not been assessed by the IUCN.
(v. 2013.2, the data is current as of March 5, 2014[4])
  1. ^ "Canada Animals | Canadian Animals | Canada Wildlife | AZ Animals". A-Z Animals.
  2. ^ Government of Canada, Statistics Canada (2018-01-10). "Introduction to the Ecological Land Classification (ELC) 2017". www.statcan.gc.ca. Retrieved 2020-11-09.
  3. ^ Wiken, Ed. "Casting the bottom line on the blue planet". Natural Resources Canada. Archived from the original on 2008-06-12. Retrieved 2008-02-13.
  4. ^ "The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species". International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources. Archived from the original on 27 June 2014. Retrieved 5 March 2014.