More Ontario Animal PhotosThis page is all about animal photos; i.e. pictures not words. I'll start with the animal that pretty well created Canada and it remains one of Canada's most enduring symbols. It's the beaver -- whose fur was so highly prized in the past that nations fought over the hunting rights.
These are probably the most common animals any visitor to Ontario sees -- black and gray squirrels. These babies were enjoying the early
spring
sunshine by chasing each other up and down the tree.
Not so common, and not much bigger than the two baby black and gray squirrels or the chipmunk that follows, is the red squirrel.
Another common sight for Ontario vacationers is the chipmunk. People feed them so they become almost tame. This one is just checking out rubber shoes as a food source.
Chipmunks are cute and fun, possibly the friendliest wild animal on the planet; however, that makes it lunch for foxes, coyotes and wolves, photos of which you can see
here.
Or at the
Haliburton Wolf Centre.
A little less cuddly is this garter snake, seen in a Provincial Park. Garter snakes are fairly common and entirely harmless. Ontario does have a very rare venomous snake, the Mississauga Rattlesnake, but your chances of meeting one are slim to none.
There are some snapping turtles around, they're much bigger and more aggressive, so watch out -- though I've never actually heard of anyone being bitten by one.
Unfortunately for Canadian wildlife, they are endowed with fine fur coats to keep them warm in the winter. Like the beaver and the Musk Rat, Mink were trapped for furs in the early years of European settlement. In fact, in Canada's case, they were pretty much the reason for settlement.
Groundhogs, or Woodchucks, are also fairly common in Ontario but are much more shy than squirrels or chipmunks so aren't as often seen.If you've enjoyed these animal photos, you'll may also be interested in our pages of
Birds
and
Bird Photos
and
moose pictures.
Return to Wildlife Photos
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In the spring, it's common to see turtles warming themselves in the sun. Most of them are Midland or Painted Turtles, like this one, and completely harmless.
This Mink (I think) played hide-and-seek among the rocks with us all one summer afternoon.