🇨🇦Canada·National Animal·since 1975
🦫North American Beaver
The rodent that built a country.
The beaver was officially designated Canada's national animal in 1975. Its image had already appeared on Canadian coins for over a century and on the country's first postage stamp in 1851 — the Three Penny Beaver, the first stamp in the world to feature an animal.
Why this animal?
The fur trade in beaver pelts drove much of Canada's early colonial economy and exploration. The beaver also represents industriousness and engineering — qualities the country has long associated with its identity.
Things to know
- ·Beavers are nature's biggest engineers — their dams create wetlands that support thousands of other species.
- ·One Alberta dam is over 850 metres long and visible from space.
- ·Their orange teeth contain iron, making them stronger than steel of the same thickness.
- ·Beavers seal their lips behind their teeth so they can chew underwater without inhaling water.
- ·They were nearly wiped out by the European fur trade — populations have rebounded but only after centuries of overhunting.