Educational Resources
Spirit Bear Teachers’ Package
The Spirit Bear Teachers’ Package includes an
animated version of Spirit Bear, an educational
video about the Great Bear Rainforest.
It also comes with a series of 46 worksheets
based on the animals featured in the book.
Use the worksheets in conjunction with our free
animal profiles available below, which are based
on the fauna of the Great Bear Rainforest.
This cross-curricular package is a great
resource for educators wishing to teach a unit
on Canadian wildlife and animal life cycles.
Free Animal Profiles!
Click on the boxes below to download free profiles for each animal
Spirit Bear
‘Kermode: Guardian of the Forest’
- A spirit bear is a special kind of black bear that is born with white fur.
- Black bears that are able to have white cubs are called Kermode bears.
- 1 in 10 Kermode bears will be born with white fur.
- In the fall/autumn they eat salmon. In spring and summer they eat plants, berries, mussels and anything else they can find.
- White bears are 30% better at catching salmon than black bears because the salmon can’t see them well from underwater.
- They hibernate in dens in hollows beneath old cedar trees for 3 – 5 months in the winter.
- The mother bear wakes up from hibernation to give birth to 1 – 4 cubs in the den.
- Cubs are born blind and hairless, and spend their first months in the den nursing and sleeping. They leave the den in the spring.
- Cubs stay with their mother for 1 – 1.5 years. The mother drives the cubs away when she’s ready to breed again.
- There are about 200 spirit bears in the world, and they all live in the Great Bear Rainforest. They are rarer than panda bears.
- Spirit bears can live for up to 25 years in the wild.
- Black bears in the Great Bear Rainforest may give birth to white cubs, and white spirit bears may give birth to black cubs.
- They mate between May and July. Like other bears, the female doesn’t become fully pregnant until it’s time to hibernate.
- If a female bear is unable to gain enough weight during the summer and fall, her body will tell her not to proceed with the pregnancy.
- They hibernate in dens in hollows beneath old cedar trees for 3 – 5 months. The mother bear wakes up from hibernation to give birth to 1 – 4 cubs in the den.
- A local native group, the Gitga’at, gave the spirit bear its name, which is ‘Moksgm’ol’ in their language. They believe it is the guardian of the rainforest.
- With only about 200 spirit bears in the world, they are rarer than wild pandas. Spirit bears can live for up to 25 years in the wild.
The Grizzly Bear
- Grizzly bears can be off-white, tan, yellow, brown or black.
- The grizzly has a hump of thick muscle on its back that makes the bear a strong digger.
- They are omnivores, meaning they eat both plants and meat.
- They eat plant roots, fruits, berries, grasses, and flowers.
- They also eat fish (especially salmon), rodents, carrion (dead animals), moose, elk, caribou, and deer.
- Grizzly bears communicate with sounds, movement and smells.
- If a female bear is unable to gain enough weight during the summer and fall, her body tells her to end the pregnancy.
- They mate in spring and early summer. The female doesn’t become fully pregnant until hibernation.
- The grizzly bear digs a hole in a hillside to make a winter den
- The female grizzly has 1 – 4 cubs in the den in winter.
- Cubs are born blind and furless and weigh 1 pound.
- They nurse and grow inside the den for 4 – 5 months.
- When the cubs are 2 years old, the mother drives them away.
- Grizzly bears can live for up to 30 years in the wild.
The Harbour Seal
- Harbour seals are so common, they are known as normal seals.
- They range in color from light gray to silver with dark spots.
- They live in shallow areas of estuaries, rivers, sandbars and beaches.
- Their flippers are short and webbed with claws, and are covered in hair.
- They use their sensitive whiskers to find food, especially in deep water and at night.
- They eat squid, crustaceans, molluscs, and a variety of fish including rockfish, herring, flounder and salmon.
- They have sharp teeth, but they swallow their food whole or tear it into chunks instead of chewing it.
- The harbour seal will “haul-out” of the water and rest on rocks with its head raised and its rear flippers in the air in what is called the “banana position.”
- Mating season usually goes from late spring to fall. They mate when they are 3 – 7 years old.
- Males gather underwater, turn on their backs, put their heads together and vocalize to attract females ready for breeding.
- The female gives birth to one pup in the spring, either on land or in the water.
- Pups are covered with fur when they are born and are able to swim and dive within hours of birth.
- A pup will sometimes ride on its mother’s back when she dives.
- The pup nurses for 3 – 6 weeks. The female mates again once her pup is weaned.
- Harbour seals can live for about 25 years in the wild.
The American Dipper
- American dippers live near swift-flowing streams.
- Their thick coat of feathers helps them survive in cold waters during the winter.
- Dippers produce more oil than most birds, which keeps them warm when searching for food underwater.
- They have an extra, clear eyelid that allows them to see underwater.
- They feed on the bottom of fast-moving, rocky streams.
- Their wings are short and strong, and are used as flippers underwater.
- They have long legs and sharp claws that they use to hold onto rocks in swift water.
- They wade, swim and dive for aquatic insects, larvae, clams, snails, crustaceans, small fish (including young salmon), and salmon eggs.
- Because they dive and walk along the bottom of streams in search of food, they are sometimes caught and eaten by large salmon.
- They sometimes dive into the water from above like a kingfisher or float on the surface pecking at their prey.
- Dippers are well suited to cold water environments and are able to keep their body temperatures normal when it’s as cold as -40 degrees centigrade.
- Their nests are shaped like globes and have a side entrance. They are built close to water, on rock ledges, river banks, or behind waterfalls.
- The female lays 2 – 4 white eggs, which hatch after 15 – 17 days.
- Only the female sits on the nest, but the male helps to feed the young.
- The babies leave the nest after 20 – 25 days.
- They can live up to 8 years in the wild.
The North-Western Salamander
- Northwestern salamanders are large and can grow as long as 24 centimeters (9.4 inches).
- They are carnivores and eat a wide variety of insects, spiders, worms and slugs.
- During the winter they spend most of their time underground, away from cold weather. They are rarely seen except during fall rains.
- When they are threatened, they release a mild white poison from glands behind their eyes and along the sides of the tail.
- Adults are most often found in mature, cool, moist forests. They spend most of their time underground beneath logs, rocks and debris.
- When it’s time to mate, they meet at wetlands, ponds, lake edges and streams.
- During courtship, the male rubs his chin along the female’s head.
- The female attaches a grapefruit-sized mass of up to 270 eggs to plants or sticks beneath the water’s surface.
- Eggs take from 2 – 8 weeks to hatch into aquatic larvae with gill buds.
- Toad eggs are laid in long jelly strands on leaves of plants that live in the water. Once laid, the eggs quickly develop into 100’s or 1000’s of tadpoles.
- They develop into ‘water dogs’ or ‘mud puppies’ with large, feathery, exterior gills and finned tails.
- Larvae feed on invertebrates and zooplankton, which are tiny aquatic animals.
- They turn into salamanders in 1 – 2 years, and leave the water for the forest.
- After metamorphosis, it takes at least a year before they are ready to breed.
- If conditions on land are not favorable, salamanders will not metamorphosize. They will develop into reproductive adults that remain in the water and will keep their feathery gills and finned tails. This is called ‘neotony.’
- Northwestern salamanders live for about 5 years in the wild.
Sea Wolf
- Unlike other wolves, sea wolves can swim like otters, and fish like bears.
- They are uniquely adapted to life in the rainforest and are smaller than other wolves.
- Their jaws are 7 times stronger than ours. They use their teeth to kill their prey.
- They mainly eat black-tailed deer and salmon, but will also eat seals and beached whales, and sometimes even attack bears. They also eat crabs, shellfish, birds, small mammals and rodents.
- Though wolves are mostly carnivorous (meaning they eat fish and meat), they also eat grass and berries at times.
- They are great swimmers and will swim up to 13 kilometers (8 miles) across ocean channels to find food.
- Unlike bears that eat the whole fish, sea wolves usually only eat the heads of salmon. Eagles, ravens and even bears will eat the rest.
- In the fall they fish for spawning salmon, catching them with their teeth and dragging them to shore to eat.
- Sea wolves usually only eat the heads of the salmon. Eagles, ravens and even bears will eat the rest.
- They live in large families called packs led by a male and a female.
- They mate in early winter, and females give birth in dry dens in the spring. Male and female wolves usually mate for life.
- Females have a litter of 4 – 7 pups, which are born blind. They are cared for by the pack until they 10 months old.
- They are cared for and protected by the pack until they 10 months old.
- Sea wolves can live for up to 10 years in the wild.
- They can be black, grey or white, but are usually brown with a red tinge.
The Wolverine
- Wolverines are the largest member of the weasel family. Their scientific name is Gulo gulo.
- They are active day and night, sleeping and then hunting every few hours.
- They have a very strong odor which they use to mark their territory.
- Wolf packs have been known to hunt and kill wolverines in their territory.
- They don’t hibernate, and have thick fur and snowshoe-like paws for winter living.
- They are ferocious predators with a taste for meat, and may attack weak or injured animals many times their size.
- They are powerful animals that have been known to take down prey many times their size and even push grizzly bears off a kill so they can scavenge it.
- They scavenge dead animals in winter. Their strong teeth and jaws can tear frozen meat and break bones.
- They have a strong sense of smell, and can locate dead animals 6 meters (20 feet) under the snow, allowing them to find animals killed in avalanches.
- They eat some plants and berries in the summer, but are mostly meat-eaters.
In summer they eat smaller mammals, and they scavenge dead salmon in the GBR. - Wolverine mating season is late spring to late summer.
- Females dig dens in winter to give birth. This protects the young from the cold. They give birth to 1 – 5 young in late winter or early spring.
- Young wolverines are called kits and are born white as snow. Kits live with their mother for as long as 2 years, until they are ready to breed.
- They are very rare and difficult to study, so little is known about them.
- Wolverines can live for 7 – 12 years in the wild.
The Humpback Whale
- Humpback whales are known for their long flippers and the large hump on their back.
- Males sing a song that lasts 10 – 20 minutes, which they sing for hours at a time. It is the longest song of any animal.
- Humpbacks in the North Pacific all sing the same song. It changes from year to year, but they all learn it and sing it the same.
- Humpback whales in the Great Bear Rainforest (GBR) migrate to Hawaii in the winter, travelling thousands of kilometres without a map or GPS.
- They usually live alone as adults, but will also form small hunting groups that can last for a few hours or a few weeks.
- Humpback whales eat a year’s worth of food in a few months while they are in the GBR, and then they migrate to Hawaii, where they will live off their fat reserves.
- They are baleen whales, or filter feeders, meaning they feed by filtering tiny animals called krill from the water.
- They breathe air through 2 blowholes located near the top of the head.
- They breed from winter to early spring near the surface in warm, tropical waters.
- Within 30 minutes of its birth, the baby whale can swim.
- Mothers are protective and affectionate towards their calves, swimming close and frequently touching them with their flippers.
- Calves are weaned at 6 – 10 months of age.
- Their population was severely depleted by whaling, but is now recovering well.
- Humpback whales live for about 40 – 50 years in the wild.
The Northwestern Deer Mouse
- The Northwestern deer mouse is a species of rodent.
- In Canada, it is only found in British Columbia.
- They eat seeds, nuts, fruit, berries, insects, fish, eggs and other animal matter.
- They are excellent climbers and jumpers.
- They have four front teeth that grow all through their lives.
- They are nocturnal, meaning they are only active at night. They spend the daytime resting in trees or burrows.
- Female deer mice make nests with grasses, roots, mosses and other plants.
- They breed between February and October.
- Females breed 2 – 3 times a year.
- They have litters of about 2 – 5 young per year.
- Babies become independent within 3 – 4 weeks and are able to breed at 5 – 6 weeks.
- Young mice are a grayish colour while adults are tri-coloured.
- They have long tails that are usually more than 100 mm (3.9 inches) long.
- Their main predators are American martens, owls, weasels and red foxes.
- They communicate using sounds and smells.
- Males are very aggressive when confronted by other males.
- Females will sometimes share their nests with their pregnant female young.
- Northwestern deer mice live for 1 – 2 years in the wild.
The Pacific Salmon
- There are 5 species of Pacific salmon that live in the Great Bear Rainforest: pink, sockeye, coho, chum and chinkook.
- There are over 2,500 salmon runs in the Great Bear Rainforest alone!
- Pacific salmon are anadromous, which means that they are born in fresh water, migrate to the ocean, and then return to fresh water to spawn.
- The 6 stages of their life cycle are: eggs, alevin, fry, smolt, adult, and spawners.
- The female digs a nest, or ‘redd,’ in the gravel of a freshwater stream or river.
- She lays her eggs in the nest, and one or more males fertilize the eggs.
- The female covers the eggs with gravel and repeats the process.Adult salmon will guard the eggs until they die.
- Tiny alevins hatch from the eggs in late winter carrying a yolk sac, which they feed on for up to 4 months, never leaving the gravel.
- After they absorb the yolk sack, the young salmon fry come out of the gravel and feed on small aquatic insects.
- Some species go straight to the ocean while others stay in the stream for a year.
- They develop into ‘water dogs’ or ‘mud puppies’ with large, feathery, exterior gills and finned tails.
- Larvae feed on invertebrates and zooplankton, which are tiny aquatic animals.
- Next, the fry become smolts, and swim downstream to the ocean.
- When they reach the ocean, they school and migrate to the North Pacific Ocean. In the ocean, salmon eat smaller fish, tiny crustaceans and krill.
- They return to their home rivers to spawn in the same place where they hatched after 1 – 7 years, depending on the type of salmon.
- Bears and wolves catch salmon and drag them into the forest to eat them. The leftover remains from the fish become food for other mammals, birds and insects and also fertilize the forest.
- Depending on the species, Pacific salmon may live from 2 – 7 years in the wild.
The Black-Tailed Deer
The Sitka Deer
- Black-tailed deer live in forests on the coast.
- They have four stomachs.
- In spring they eat plants and herbs.
- In winter they eat berries, grass, lichen, nuts and shrubs.
- Their main predators are wolves and cougars.
- They are good swimmers and often swim to find food.
- Only bucks (males) have antlers, which they lose in the winter.
- Their antlers fall to the forest floor and small animals chew on them to get nutrients.
- Black-tailed deer breed in November and December.
- They live in large families called packs led by a male and a female.
- A male deer is called a buck, a female deer is called a doe and a young deer is called a fawn.
- Newborn fawns nurse soon after birth and can walk almost right away.
- For the first few weeks of life, fawns nurse from their mothers, whose milk is more than twice as rich as the best cow’s milk.
- Younger does give birth to one fawn, while does 3 – 9 years old often have twins.
- Adult bucks don’t help to raise fawns and will either remain solitary or will form bachelor groups throughout the summer.
- In winter, deer may be observed in larger groups.
- Black-tailed deer live for about 10 years in the wild.
The American Mink
- The American mink belongs to a family of carnivores that includes weasels, mink and wolverines.
- They have long, sleek bodies about 0.6 meters (2 feet) long.
- They have broad feet with webbed toes.
- They have short, stubby legs, a long neck, small ears and eyes and a long, thick tail.
- Like the skunk, the mink sprays intruders with a foul-smelling liquid. The mink marks its territory with its scent.
- In the GBR they usually live near the intertidal zone and eat marine animals such as crabs and fish (such as salmon), but they will sometimes eat birds, eggs, frogs, insects and earthworms.
- They are good swimmers and can dive as deep as 4.8 meters (16 feet).
- Their fur colour is usually very dark and tawny. They molt (shed their fur) twice a year, in spring and fall, but don’t turn white in winter.
- They live in areas close to water and dig long burrows in river banks, holes under logs, tree stumps or roots. They sometimes live in hollow trees and rock crevices.
- Their dens have a large number of entrances and twisting passages, and may have as many as 8 exits.
- The nesting chamber is at the end of the tunnel, and is lined with fur and feathers.
- The mating season is between January and April.
- In spring, the female has a litter of 2 – 10 young in the fur-lined nest.
- The babies are weaned when they are 5 – 6 weeks old. They stay with their mother until the fall.
- American mink live for about 3 – 6 years in the wild.
The Common Merganser
‘Sawbill’ Duck
- Common mergansers are found in rivers, lakes and estuaries in forested areas.
- They often form large groups, or ‘floating flocks,’ in the winter.
- They are fish-feeding ducks with serrated (jagged) bills that help them grip their prey, so they are often known as “sawbills.”
- Adult birds mainly eat fish like young salmon, which they catch by diving in the water. They also eat mussels, crustaceans, and other aquatic creatures.
- Nests are located near water, usually in holes in trees, but may also be in rock crevices, under tree roots, and in nest boxes.
- The female lays 6 – 17 white to yellowish eggs and raises one brood in a season.
- Females will sometimes lay eggs in another female’s nest and allow the other female to raise their chicks for them.
- The male will stay near the nest until the female begins to sit on the eggs, but rarely stays with the brood after they hatch.
- The mother carries the ducklings in her bill to rivers or lakes right after they hatch, where they feed on freshwater invertebrates and small fish fry.
- The mother simply leads the ducklings to food, and they feed themselves. Small ducklings will sometimes hitch a ride on their mothers’ backs.
- The ducklings become good divers within 8 days of leaving the nest.
- Females usually abandon their young before they can fly, sometimes as early as the end of the first week.
- Ducklings join together after being abandoned, forming rafts as large as 40. They are ready to breed at 2 years of age.
- Mergansers live for about 12 – 13 years in the wild.
The Douglas Squirrel
- Douglas squirrels look a lot like red squirrels, but are only found in Western North America.
- They gather food in the trees and on the ground. If there is bad weather, they’ll stay in their nests.
- They eat mostly seeds from conifer trees such as Douglas fir, Sitka Spruce, Western Hemlock and others.
- They will also eat berries, mushrooms, bird eggs and fruits.
- They do not hibernate, but they have different homes in winter and summer.
- Their summer nests are made of moss, bark and twigs. In the winter they nest in holes in trees.
- Douglas squirrels have distinct summer and winter coats.
- Their summer coat is reddish-brown or grayish-brown above, and light to dark orange underneath, sometimes with white areas.
- Their winter coat is grayer with less orange color on the underside. Northern populations have ear tufts in winter.
- Mating season for the Douglas squirrel happens between late February and April.
- About a month after mating, the female gives birth to 4 – 6 babies.
- The babies are born hairless and blind.
- Their hair grows in a little over 2 weeks, and their eyes open in about a month.
- Baby squirrels are weaned (stop nursing) after 8 weeks.
- They communicate using sounds and smells.
- The young squirrels may stay with their mother for most of their first year.
- Douglas squirrels can live for up to 4 years in the wild.
The Red Fox
-
Foxes belong to the dog family, but unlike their
canine cousins, they are solitary hunters
• They hunt prey by stalking, just like the big cats,
and are preyed upon primarily by coyotes and bobcats
• They mainly prey on small animals such as voles, mice, lemmings, hares and
rabbits but they also like to eat plants, fruits and berries
• Red foxes are nocturnal, but it’s not unusual to see them during the day
• Their white-tipped tails help them to balance and keep warm, and they use
them to communicate with other foxes
• They have whiskers on their faces and legs, which help them to navigate
• They climb trees and tend to sit on lower branches
• They have exceptional hearing and can detect low-frequency sounds, which
allows them to locate small animals living underground
• They live all over the world–North America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa
• They are the largest member of the fox family, and can be found in all of
Canada’s provinces and territories
• Red foxes use scent as a way to communicate with one another
• They have the reputation of being clever because of their ability to find food
even in the dead of winter
• A mother will have a litter of 1 – 10 pups between March and May every year
• After 7 months, the pups are released from the den to live on their own
• The red fox’s lifespan in the wild is 3 – 6 years
The Cougar
Mountain Lion
- Cougars are the largest cats in North America
- They are also sometimes called mountain lions, pumas, panthers, or catamounts.
- The cougar is more closely related to the house cat than the lion
- They are secretive and solitary, and hunt at night.
- In the Great Bear Rainforest they mostly hunt black-tailed deer, but will also eat small animals at times.
- Cougars stalk rather than chase their prey and are so stealthy they are rarely seen.
- Some cougars can eat porcupines without being harmed.
- Cougars are good swimmers, but they don’t like getting wet.
- Cougars whistle, squeak, growl, scream, purr, hiss, and yowl, but they can’t roar.
- Cougars can jump 5.5 meters (18 feet) from the ground to a tree.
- Cougars mate in winter and early spring.
- Females have litters of 2 – 4 kittens in the spring.
- Cougar cubs leave their mother when they are 2 years old.
- Female cougars usually have one litter every other year.
- Cougars can live for up to 10 years in the wild
- At 2 years of age, the cougar cubs will leave their mother to start their own lives.
- In winter, deer may be observed in larger groups.
- Black-tailed deer live for about 10 years in the wild.
The American Marten
- The American marten is a long, slim-bodied weasel similar in size to a mink.
- They are very agile and can climb very high, and their long, bushy tails help them balance in the trees.
- They have small, round ears and sharp teeth for eating meat.
- They are mostly carnivorous and eat rodents, birds, insects, amphibians, reptiles, and fish. They will also scavenge dead salmon during the salmon run.
- They also sometimes eat honey, seeds, worms, eggs, and berries.
- Martens may be nocturnal (active at night) or diurnal (active in the day).
- Their long, silky fur ranges from pale yellow to light brown to black.
- Their head is usually lighter than the rest of their body, while the tail and legs are darker.
- They are well adapted to winter conditions and move around well in deep snow.
- Adults are generally solitary except during the breeding season.
- They are able to breed at 1 year of age, but some don’t breed until 2 years of age.
- Dens are made in the branches, holes or broken tops of live trees, snags, stumps, logs or in piles of wood or rocks.
- Females prepare a den by lining a cavity with grass, moss and leaves.
- They will usually produce one litter of 3 – 4 kits per year.
- Kits generally stay with their mother until the end of their first summer, and most will go out on their own in the fall.
- American martens may live as long as 14 years in the wild.
The Great Blue Heron
- The great blue heron is the largest heron in North America.
- They usually hold their neck in an “S” curve when flying.
- The heron’s main source of food is fish, such as young salmon.
- They also eat small mammals, salamanders, lizards, frogs, snakes, rodents, crayfish, shrimps, crabs and water insects.
- When hunting for food, they stand perfectly still in the water. They wait for a fish to swim by, then they attack.
- Their feathers turn brighter during the mating season and are duller in winter.
- Herons nest in groups called ‘heronries’.
- The nests are built high up in trees by both the male and the female.
- The female lays about 3 – 7 large, light bluish-green eggs, which she sits on at night and the male sits on during the day.
- The heron turns the eggs with its bill once every 2 hours to keep the eggs evenly warm.
- The eggs hatch after about 25 – 29 days.
- The parent feeding the young puts its bill in the young heron’s throat to feed it partially digested fish and other foods.
- The chicks leave their parents and the nest after 10 weeks.
- Great blue herons live for about 15 years in the wild.
The Common Raven
- Ravens are bold, clever and inquisitive birds.
- They look a lot like American crows but are much larger and can weigh more than 4 times as much.
- Ravens soar and glide, while crows flap continuously and fly in a direct path.
- Ravens are opportunistic scavengers. They are omnivores that eat small invertebrates, amphibians, reptiles, small mammals, birds, berries and fruit.
- In the Great Bear Rainforest they will often scavenge dead salmon.
- Common ravens are intelligent, which makes them dangerous predators.
- They sometimes work in pairs to steal food from other predators – one raven will pull the tailfeathers of an eagle while the other steals its salmon catch.
- The raven is an acrobatic flier, often seen doing rolls and somersaults in the air.
- Young birds enjoy playing games with sticks, first dropping them and then diving and catching them in midair.
- Breeding pairs of common ravens have territories that they protect from all other ravens throughout the year.
- Females lay 3 – 7 eggs in a cup-shaped nest made of sticks and twigs, lined with mud, fur, grass, and bark.
- The eggs hatch in 20 – 25 days. The male brings food to the female while she is incubating the eggs. Both the male and the female care for and feed the chicks.
- The chicks leave the nest when they are 3 – 5 weeks old.
- Breeding pairs mate for more than 1 year and may use the same nesting site.
- Common ravens can live for up to 21 years in the wild.
The Pacific Green Sea Turtle
-
The pacific green sea turtle is also known as the green (sea) turtle or
black (sea) turtle
• They are heavy sea turtles with large, smooth, teardrop-shaped shells and
paddle-like flippers
• They can weigh up to 317.5 kilograms (700 pounds) and are among the largest
sea turtles in the world
• They are one of the few marine turtles that will leave the water outside of nesting
time, and are sometimes seen basking in the sun beside seals and albatrosses
• Unlike most sea turtles, adult green turtles are herbivorous, living in shallow
lagoons and feeding on sea grasses and algae
• Juvenile green turtles will also eat invertebrates like crabs, jellyfish, and sponges
• Like other sea turtles, green turtles make long journeys from their feeding sites
to their nesting grounds, which are usually on sandy beaches
• Females leave the sea and choose an area to nest, often on the same beach
where they were born
• In the night they dig a pit in the sand with their flippers and fill it with 100 – 200
eggs, then cover the pit and return to the sea
• The eggs hatch in about 2 months, and the baby turtles must crawl to the ocean
• The most dangerous time of a green sea turtle’s life is the journey from nest to sea,
when they are attacked by multiple predators, including crabs and flocks of gulls
• Pacific green sea turtles that survive the journey to the sea may live for up to 80
years in the wild. They are listed as an endangered species
The Bald Eagle
- The bald eagle is a bird of prey, or ‘raptor’.
- Their nests are used over and over for many years, and are the largest of any bird in North America.
- They live in forests near lakes, rivers, oceans and marshes.
- Eagles mostly eat fish such as salmon, but will also eat small mammals and other birds.
- They will capture their food, scavenge it or steal prey from other animals.
- Bald eagles mate for life, but if one dies, the other will choose a new mate.
- When it’s time to breed, they often return to the area where they were born.
- They lay 1 – 3 eggs at a time in their large nests.
- Males and females take turns sitting on the eggs, but the female does most of the incubating.
- While one parent sits on the nest, the other hunts for food.
- Eggs hatch from April to May. The young leave the nest from late June to early July.
- Bald eagles live for up to 20 years in the wild.
- Cougar cubs leave their mother when they are 2 years old.
- Female cougars usually have one litter every other year.
- Cougars can live for up to 10 years in the wild
- At 2 years of age, the cougar cubs will leave their mother to start their own lives.
- In winter, deer may be observed in larger groups.
- Black-tailed deer live for about 10 years in the wild.
The River Otter
- The North American river otter is the only river otter found North of Mexico.
- They are most active at night.
- Its fur, or pelt, is waterproof and helps the river otter regulate its temperature.
- The colour of its fur ranges from grey and white to brown and black.
- They mainly eat fish like salmon, but will also eat mollusks, aquatic insects, birds, crabs, oysters, shellfish, crayfish, amphibians, rodents and aquatic invertebrates.
- They can stay underwater for up to 8 minutes and can close their ears and nostrils to keep water out.
- They are great divers and can dive to a depth of 18 meters (60 feet).
- They are very playful animals and can very often be seen playing games.
- They are comfortable in the water and on land.
- They make their homes in burrows near the water’s edge, and often slide on their bellies from land into the water.
- The mating season is from December to April.
- Otter burrows are made up of many tunnels, one of which usually allows them to come and go from the water.
- Females retreat to their underground dens to deliver litters of 1 – 6 young.
- When the young are about 2 months old, their mother pushes them into the water.
- Social groups are usually made up of adult females and their pups, but there are also groups of individual males.
- River otters live about 8 – 9 years in the wild.
The Belted Kingfisher
- Belted kingfishers live along river shorelines, lakes and estuaries.
- Males have one blue band across the white breast, while females have a blue and a chestnut band.
- When threatened, they may make loud screaming sounds and harsh calls.
- They have a thick, pointed bill used specially for catching their prey.
- They feed almost entirely on aquatic prey, diving to catch fish and crayfish.
- They spend most of their time perched alone along the edges of streams, lakes and estuaries searching for small fish such as juvenile salmon.
- They fly quickly up and down rivers and shorelines making loud, rattling calls.
- They hunt by diving directly from a perch or by hovering over the water, bill pointed downward, before diving after a fish they’ve spotted.
- They rarely go all the way underwater. They usually go after small fish at the surface.
- They spend winters in areas where the water doesn’t freeze so that they have access year-round to their aquatic foods.
- They nest in burrows that they dig into soft earthy banks, usually next to water.
- Both males and females dig the burrow with their bills and feet.
- Females lay 5 – 8 white eggs, and both adults sit on the eggs and feed the young.
- When they leave the nest, the young birds follow their parents around, who feed them and teach them how to hunt.
- The parents teach their young to dive by dropping dead fish into the water where the young can pick them up.
- Belted kingfishers can live for up to 4 years in the wild.
The Western Toad
- Adult Western toads have stocky bodies with short legs, and tend to walk rather than hop.
- Their thick skins are dry and bumpy and range in colour from pale green to grey, dark brown and red.
- They have large glands behind their eyes that release chemicals that make them taste bad, and can make them poisonous to predators.
- They are carnivores, and they eat flying insects, ants, beetles, crayfish, spiders, centipedes, slugs, and earthworms.
- They prefer damp conditions, and spend much of their time underground.
- They generally shelter in small mammal burrows, beneath logs and in rock crevices. They hibernate in burrows once the weather gets cold in autumn and winter.
- They are mainly nocturnal, but are active during the day in some areas.
- Males are generally smaller than females and have dark pads on their thumbs, which help them cling to the female during mating.
- Adult Western toads travel to their breeding sites in early spring, which are usually water bodies with shallow sandy bottoms.
- Toad eggs are laid in long jelly strands on leaves of plants that live in the water. Once laid, the eggs quickly develop into 100’s or 1000’s of tadpoles.
- Tadpoles are black or charcoal coloured, with a dark, rounded fin along the length of their tail. They eat aquatic plants, detritus (dead animal matter) and algae.
- By the end of the summer, the tadpoles turn into toadlets and leave the water. This takes about 6 – 8 weeks.
- After mating, Western toads move out into the forest.
- Western toads may live for up to 6 years in the wild.