Today, it was all about the animal kingdom. The Very Large Animal kingdom. In the south of Ontario, the biggest creatures you’ll find are coyotes or deer, or maybe a garbage engorged raccoon. Up here, the average mammal size seems to be upwards of 500 pounds. And today I would estimate we visited with approximately 4000 pounds of mammal. And some very uppity fowl.
We were greeting this morning at the Cedar Meadows Wildlife Park in Timmins by Elmer, a very heavy and steadfast bison (we later watched as he triumphed in a standoff over a bucket of grain with a disgruntled territorial swan.) Soon we were joined by several elk and some adolescent moose, and Brutus, an even bigger bison. We learned, and maybe I’m the only person who didn’t already know this, that moose by definition are eaters of wood. They’re also fairly slow eaters, since they only have teeth on the bottom of their mouths. The park crew run two wildlife tours a day, in a covered wagon, and will tell you many more interesting things about the animals. Although guests stay in the safety of the wagon, the animals are not shy and will come right up and nibble on anything that sticks out. We got into a showdown ourselves with Oscar, the grumpy swan, on our way out — he was upset I think that the tractor had dared pass by his pond twice, even after the warning he’d given it the first time — and he refused to move from between two wheels, biting at the tractor furiously. Jamie, who was late for a meeting, decided he didn’t have time to wait for Oscar’s tantrum and bravely shooed him away with a couple leafy branches. Oscar was not amused, but Jamie did make it to his meeting on time.
We headed north on the quiet highway 655 to Cochrane, where we were lucky enough to be the first to meet the new polar bear, Ganuk, at the Polar Bear Habitat. Only two and half years old, Ganuk already weighs 650 pounds and is well on his way to a full adult weight of over 1000. Playful and curious, Ganuk peered through the windows of the viewing pool and watched us all quizzically as he chomped on a carrot or two. It was quite a unique experience.
Then it was off to dinner at JR’s BBQ Ranch, where we feasted on racks of perfectly done ribs with honey garlic and barbecue sauce and an amazing baked potato. We dined with my winsome cousin and his lovely lady, who have just relocated to Cochrane and who filled us in on the best things to see and do.
Tomorrow — the Polar Bear Express to Moosonee! We’re spending the summer solstice as far north as we can possibly get in Ontario. A whole ‘nother world…
Photo by Alexandra Sawicki
this is what i’ve been talking about! postcards on the net! lovely!