Canada’s wildlife faces an uncertain future as temperatures rise and ecosystems shift. From the Arctic tundra to coastal waters, animals that have thrived for thousands of years now struggle to adapt to rapidly changing conditions. Understanding these impacts helps us recognize the urgent need for conservation action.
This article provides general information about climate impacts on Canadian wildlife based on scientific research. Climate science is complex and ongoing, so impacts may vary by region and species.
1. Polar Bear
Sea ice disappears earlier each spring, forcing polar bears to swim longer distances or go hungry. These massive predators rely on ice platforms to hunt seals, their primary food source.
Without stable ice, mothers struggle to feed cubs, and adult bears lose dangerous amounts of weight. Scientists have documented bears wandering into communities more frequently, searching desperately for food as their frozen hunting grounds vanish beneath warming waters.
2. Caribou
Warming temperatures bring unexpected rain during winter, creating ice layers that lock away the lichens and plants caribou need to survive. Herds across northern Canada have declined dramatically over recent decades.
Calving seasons now overlap with insect swarms that arrive earlier due to warmer springs. The relentless bugs drain energy from mothers and newborns, reducing survival rates in already vulnerable populations struggling with habitat changes.
3. Atlantic Puffin
Ocean warming pushes the small fish that puffins feed their chicks farther from nesting colonies along Canada’s Atlantic coast. Parents must fly greater distances, often returning with insufficient food.
Chicks grow slower and weaker when meals become scarce. Storm intensity has increased too, washing away burrows and drowning young birds before they can fledge, creating a heartbreaking cycle that threatens future generations of these charismatic seabirds.
4. Salmon
Rivers grow too warm for salmon eggs to develop properly, and drought conditions lower water levels that block migration routes. British Columbia’s iconic salmon runs have weakened considerably as climate patterns shift.
Warmer streams also favor diseases and parasites that devastate fish populations. Indigenous communities who have depended on salmon for thousands of years now witness empty rivers during spawning season, a cultural and ecological loss with profound consequences.
5. Moose
Rising temperatures stress moose populations across southern Canada, as these cold adapted animals overheat during longer, hotter summers. Their thick coats and large bodies make cooling difficult when temperatures soar.
Winter ticks, once controlled by harsh cold, now explode in numbers and drain blood from thousands of moose each year. Calves covered in tens of thousands of ticks often die from blood loss, earning them the tragic nickname ghost moose.
6. Piping Plover
Stronger storms and rising water levels wash away the sandy beaches where these tiny shorebirds nest along Canada’s coasts and prairie lakes. Each wave that crashes higher threatens eggs and newly hatched chicks.
Changing precipitation patterns also flood nesting areas at critical times. With only a few thousand birds left in Canada, every lost nest matters tremendously for this endangered species fighting to survive in an increasingly unpredictable environment.
7. Wolverine
Deep spring snowpack provides essential denning sites where wolverine mothers give birth and protect vulnerable kits. Climate warming reduces snow depth and shortens the season when suitable conditions exist.
These fierce carnivores need cold, remote mountain habitats that are shrinking as temperatures climb. Reduced snow also affects the prey species wolverines hunt, creating food shortages that compound the challenges facing one of Canada’s most elusive and resilient predators.
8. Beluga Whale
Arctic waters warm faster than almost anywhere on Earth, disrupting the prey distribution that beluga whales depend on in Hudson Bay and northern estuaries. Fish and invertebrates shift locations as temperatures change.
Ice loss also increases shipping traffic and underwater noise, which interferes with the echolocation belugas use to navigate and hunt. Pollution from industrial development follows the retreating ice, adding toxins to waters where these social, intelligent whales raise their young.
9. Canada Lynx
Shorter winters with less snow disadvantage lynx, whose oversized paws act like snowshoes, giving them hunting advantages over prey. Snowshoe hares, their primary food, also face population shifts due to changing conditions.
Warmer temperatures allow competitors like coyotes to expand northward into lynx territory. These larger predators outcompete lynx for food and habitat, pushing them into smaller, more fragmented areas where survival becomes increasingly difficult for this specialized northern cat.
10. Monarch Butterfly
Extreme weather events during their incredible migration through Canada kill thousands of monarchs each year. Droughts reduce milkweed plants that caterpillars need, while unexpected cold snaps or storms devastate travelling populations.
Spring arrives earlier, causing timing mismatches between butterfly migration and plant blooming. When monarchs arrive before flowers open or after peak blooming, they lack the nectar fuel needed to complete their journey, threatening this remarkable cross continental phenomenon.
