How are Animals Named?

How are Animals Named?

How are Animals Named?

11 min read –

Throughout history, various languages and cultures have contributed to a wide – and often confusing – vocabulary used to describe animals’ genders, the young stages of their lives and what they may be called when they are gathered together in groups.

Mule deer:
Males are called bucks. Females are called does & young are fawns.
A group of deer are often called a herd but more fun versions include a bevy, a bunch, a rangale or a parcel
– though a parcel is often in reference to a group of young deer.

Historically, adjectives were the labels of choice to communicate animal gender identifiers. A broad selection of these labels has resulted – which are not universally applied, even within the same species. For example: in the deer family or Cervidae, males are identified as bucks and females are called does. In moose, and caribou – also members of the Cervidae family – males are called bulls and females are called cows while elk males are referred to as stags.

Cervids
From left to right – moose, caribou and Elk.
Males are called bulls (elk are called stags) and females are called cows.

Generally these cervids in groupings would be called herds (though moose are not actually herd animals) while elk can be also called a gang – watch out!

Not limited to just fur-bearing creatures, these titles are applied to other species and there are often departures from the naming conventions used. Rabbits are called bucks and does while steelhead trout males are called bucks, with females being called hens rather than does.

There is also a vast difference in the scientific naming of all creatures. Over the centuries a number of early scientists attempted to establish a format to classify animal groups. Ancient Chinese created the first recorded reference in 2700 BC, but it was quite limited and focused primarily on flora (vegetation) of their geographic region. 

Check out our Facebook post to learn more about Vulpes vulpes; not all red foxes are created equally but all are a red fox!

  1. Remember Fox and the Hound? A male is called a tod (sometimes a reynard or a dog), while females are referred to as vixens.
  2. Young are most commonly called kits but can also go by cubs, or pups.
  3. The collective noun to describe a group of foxes are a skulk, earth or a leash! These names are related to fox behaviour corresponding respectively as a group hunting together, a mama fox with her kits, and a group of domesticated or captive foxes as a leash.

Now, there are other foxes including Arctic fox (Vulpes lagopus), swift fox (Vulpes velox), fennec fox (Vulpes zerda), and others across the world for a total of 12 species that comprise the largest genus, Vulpes.

Smaller classifications exist within the genus Urocyon which include the gray fox. The only extant species of fox belonging to the Otocyon genus is that of the bat-eared fox found in the African savanna.

Ancient Greek philosopher and scientist Aristotle described a large number of natural groups, and although he ranked them from simple to complex, his order was not an evolutionary one. He was far ahead of his time in separating invertebrate animals into different groups and was aware that whales, dolphins, and porpoises had mammalian characters and were not fish. The Aristotelian method dominated classification for many centuries. During this period, it provided a procedure for attempting to define living things through careful analysis, it neglected the variations between living things.

In 1758 Carolus Linnaeus, who is usually regarded as the founder of modern taxonomy and whose books are considered the beginning of modern botanical and zoological nomenclature, drew up rules for assigning names to plants and animals. He was the first to use binomial nomenclature consistently. Although he introduced the standard hierarchy of class, order, family, genus, and species, his main success in his own day was providing workable keys, making it possible to identify plants and animals from his cataloging. Linnaeus was the father of the Field Guide.

Lynx classification

Over the centuries a number of paleontologists, biologists, and scientists contributed to refining Taxonomy as we know it today. Perhaps the most notable of these was Charles Darwin – who explained his theory of evolution by describing how animals changed over time, yet still remained within specific categories in taxonomy.

Below is a table defining each classification of steppe Bison, the 15,000-year-old ancestor of today’s wood bison. As you can see, their classifications are not much different, other than identifying wood bison as a sub-species.

While their scientific classifications are very similar, the animals themselves were quite different. Steppe bison persisted through the great extinction of the last Ice Age up until about 5,400 years ago. A relatively recent find in Whitehorse city limits proves steppe bison persisted giving rise to the bison seen in the Yukon today but are not the direct descendants of the steppe bison.

Darwin’s famous illustration The Tree of Life displays the evolutionary relationships between species. This idea caused a great deal of controversy when he concluded that mankind evolved from the apes which was contrary to the religious teachings of the day.

Muskox and bison – both species are members of the Bovidea family. In this family, males are called bulls and females are called cows. The young are called calves and groups of both species are referred to as “herds”. But that is where the line is drawn for their nomenclatures. The Inuit name for muskox is “omingmak,” which means “the animal with the skin like a beard.” Geographically, today’s populations of muskox and bison do not overlap and their adaptions to winter survival as a result are very different.

We can see from this phylogenetic tree how bovids (horn bearing) and cervids (antler bearing) are related to each other. The animals with icons represent those species at the Yukon Wildlife Preserve. The Yukon has 9 of the 11 ungulates of North America, excluding the bighorn sheep and pronghorn antelope. What’s also interesting to note is that mountain goats are their own genus and muskox are more closely related to sheep and goats than they are bison!

When we dive into the scientific name we can see how the classifications carry over. For instance muskox, Ovibos, share genus naming from sheep and cow. Caribou or Rangifer tarandus is reindeer in Latin, from the Greek tárandos, also meaning reindeer. So when someone asks you the difference between caribou and reindeer, you can say, nothing! (Except, reindeer fly!)

Classification tree for ungulates bovid and cervid

(Note: this a general phylogenetic tree; it is not complete and does not represent accurate branch length for amount of genetic change and complexities of sub-taxa).

Beyond the labels used for animal species, their offspring also suffer from a variety of descriptors to classify their young age. There are calves, fawns, foals, pups, cubs, kittens, chicks, hatchlings, fry and owlets to name a few. Yes, there is a lot to remember, but with practice you can master the various names used to identify animal difference.

These descriptor variations also extend to the words used to describe a group of an individual species. There are herds, colonies, congresses, tribes, swarms, flocks, droves, clutches, packs, murders, litters, pods, braces, convocations, gangs, schools, hordes, gaggles, bands, and numerous other words used to describe a group of same-species creatures. There are even names given to groupings of animals that are, in fact, unlikely to group together given their territorial and/or solitary nature – like owls, moose or wolverines.

Even within a class of animals like birds, its a complex web of classification and further to each species’ grouping names.

Birds:

  • In general – Flock
  • Eagle – convocation
  • Falcon – cast
  • Owl – parliament, stare or wisdom
  • Swallows – flight, gulp
  • Swans – bevy, wedge
  • Ptarmigans – covey
  • Ravens – unkindness, rave, conspiracy
  • Magpies – tiding, mischief
  • Grouse – pack, covey
  • Crane – sedge
  • Ducks – raft in water and skein when flying
    • mallards on the ground can be called a sord
  • Geese – gaggle
  • Loons – asylum

 

 

Other mammals:

  • Squirrel – scurry
  • Wild canids, dogs – pack
  • Goats – tribe
  • Otters – romp
  • Porcupines – prickle
  • Voles – colony
  • Wolverines – mob
  • Martens – richness

Invertebrates:

  • Bees – grist, hive or swarm
  • Caterpillars – army
  • Flies – business

Amphibians (no reptiles in the Yukon):

  • Frogs – army
  • Toads – knot

Fish:

  • Trout – school
  • Salmon – bind, draught or run

It’s an interesting read to understand the many different words used to describe an animal’s gender, how they are identified when they are youngsters and in groups together. Of course, the list above is centered on animals that make their home in the Yukon – imagine some of the animals that live in your neck of the woods, or places you’ve travelled to, and what those animals’ naming classifications may be.

What is more, the naming of animal’s as described by history must also recognize that many of these species, (beyond the few mentioned like Wapati and Omingnak), also hold Traditional and First Nation naming of animals that are descriptive, communicating the animals’ place, use or spiritual significance.

Do you have any interesting or favourite animal classification terms/names? Share them with us in the comment section below!

Doug Caldwell

Doug Caldwell

Wildlife Interpreter

Doug is one of the Interpretive Wildlife Guides here at the Preserve. An avid angler and hunter he has a broad knowledge of Yukon’s wilderness and the creatures that live here. With a focus on the young visitors to the Preserve, Doug takes the extra time to help our guests to better appreciate the many wonders of the animal kingdom here in the Yukon.

Lindsay Caskenette

Lindsay Caskenette

Manager of Visitor Services

Lindsay joined the Wildlife Preserve team March 2014. Originally from Ontario, she came to the Yukon in search of new adventures and new career challenges. Lindsay holds a degree in Environmental Studies with honours from Wilfrid Laurier University and brings with her a strong passion to share what nature, animals and the environment can teach us.

867-456-7400
lindsay@yukonwildlife.ca

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Bison vs. Muskox

Bison vs. Muskox

Bison vs. Muskox

2 minute read – 

Bison versus muskox! What’s the same? What’s different? Who is more cool? Top 5 reasons muskox and bison are NOT the same animal, at all.

One of the first animals visitors see when they explore the Preserve is bison. As folks continue to explore the Preserve they will later come upon another large, brown animal and often say, ‘hey, look bison again!” In fact, they are looking at muskox. Both animals in their appearance can look similar but they are indeed quite different!

Similarities:

  1. Both animals belong to the Bovidae family.
    • These animals comprise the biological family of mammals that are cloven-hoofed and ruminants. A member of this family can be called a bovid.
  2. Both animals (and both males and females) have horns.
    • While shape and size differ the basic structure is always that of a pair of simple bony protrusions without branches, and each covered in a permanent sheath of keratin.
  3. It’s a family affair.
    • both species form herds, and their social structure often involves a dominant individual. With this grouping the species is usually polygnous.
    • Safety is a game of numbers and larger groupings allow for greater protection of the herd than if they were solitary animals. 
  4. The Holocene, Ice Age and Pleistocene – History.
    • Both present day species, Ovibos moschatus and Bison bison athabascae were on the land during the Early Holocene (10,000 – 5,000). Both current day species were reintroduced in the Yukon.

Differences:

  1. Physical appearance
    • Bison are bigger and heavier. Males can be almost twice the weight of a muskox. As an Arctic specialist and ice age survivor it pays for muskox to be compact. Don’t worry though, the biggest land mammal in North America is adapted well to survival in the North.
    • Muskox have a lot of hair, everywhere! Two coats including an exterior, thick and long guard hair layer called their skirt – ’cause it goes down to the ground. Underneath that, a soft, extremely warm wool called qiviut, keep the muskox warm in the wild Arctic. Now, wood bison have a massive build, a pronounced hump on their shoulders and shaggy hair around their head, face and forelimbs.
    • Horns grow differently – muskox sport almost mustache looking horns form on top of the head, with males having larger and denser helmet structure to absorb the headbutt actions that happen in rut season. On the other horn, er, hand . . . bison have horns grow from the sides of their head and quickly curve upwards.
  2. Bison are like wild cows, while muskox are more closely related to mountains goats.
    • This is represented in subfamily observation where the muskox is classified under the Caprinae subfamily.
  3. What happened when the cow and the goat walked into the bar?
    • Nothing – they wouldn’t be in the same place at the same time! Muskox are a narrow niche specialist, occupying the high arctic tundra of the Circumpolar North! Wood bison roam grasslands, forest and mountain slope environments across northwestern North America.
  4. Fight or flight?
    • Bison choose flight – they will flee as a herd for safety when threatened.
    • Muskox fight – they form a defensive circle with young inside and adults facing outwards. This behaviour makes sense given we know that muskox live in an arctic tundra environment. Fleeing would be a near endless, waste of precious energy.
  5.  History is confusing but muskox are true Ice Age survivors.
    • While wood bison were present during the Holocene  it was a narrow window within this geological epoch that the Bison bison evolved from its predecessors Bison priscus (commonly known as Steppe Bison) and Bison occidentalis. Both subspecies of present day bison (plains and wood) are reintroductions to their current ranges. 
    • Muskox, Ovibos moschatus not only were present during the Holocene they were present during the Pleistocene. Muskox as we know them today – tundra muskox or Ovibos moschatus  persisted alongside other Ice Age animals like the Helmeted Muskox and other large megafauna like Steppe bison, and mammoths but they did not go extinct!

We say the winner is, Muskox! They are cooler! What do you think?

Bison versus muskox<br />
whats the same? Whats different? Who is cooler?<br />
Lindsay Caskenette

Lindsay Caskenette

Manager of Visitor Services

Lindsay joined the Wildlife Preserve team March 2014. Originally from Ontario, she came to the Yukon in search of new adventures and new career challenges. Lindsay holds a degree in Environmental Studies with honours from Wilfrid Laurier University and brings with her a strong passion to share what nature, animals and the environment can teach us.

867-456-7400
lindsay@yukonwildlife.ca

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Those Things On Their Heads – Antlers Vs. Horns

Those Things On Their Heads – Antlers Vs. Horns

Those Things On Their Heads – Antlers Vs. Horns

10 minute read –

In our modern language usage, some terms or words may be incorrectly applied when describing an item. For example: some people do not always distinguish between horns and antlers where they incorrectly refer to all animal headgear as horns. Antlers and horns are very different in a number of ways and these variations are the result of millions of years of evolution and adaptation for the animal species to live a healthy life in the environment they occupy.

Bovids, or members of the horn-bearing group of animals versus cervids, or members of the deer, antler-bearing group of animals. 
Photo left to right:  Mountain goat, bison, moose, caribou. 
Credit: L.Caskenette & J.Paleczny

Headgear has influenced many aspects of some species and how they conduct themselves through the year; including the obvious breeding cycle but also their comfort in the heat of summer and how they communicate and identify themselves visually.

Let’s begin with construction materials: Horns are made from keratin- the same material as your hair and fingernails- whereas antlers are made from bone. Horns are a two-part structure. An interior portion of bone (an extension of the skull) is covered by an exterior sheath grown by specialized hair follicles called keratin.

Horns grow from the base where it attaches to the animal’s skull, antlers grow from the tips. Antlers are grown only by males of the deer species except for Caribou where females grow lightweight antlers, an adaptation for their grazing in snow for lichen. Horns are present on both male and females of most horned species with the males typically having larger horns than the females. 

Bovid family of animals have horns and both females and males with grow these horns. Typically female horn growth is smaller than males. Sexual selection plays a role here for large displays in both horn and antler bearing animals.

Perhaps the greatest difference between horns and antlers is that antlers are shed and regrow each year, where horns are permanent and remain and grow with the animal for all its life, or until they get broken off. Once they are broken, they do not grow back. The animal will carry a damaged or missing horn for the rest of its life.  Antlers also factor into the breeding cycles of the males who employ them to demonstrate their virility and to impress the females.

Antlers too may become broken or removed completely due to carelessness or fighting. These will grow back, but not right away. The animal must wait for the annual antler shed-regrow cycle for that year to conclude, usually in mid-winter before a new antler will form during the next year’s cycle, this may cause the animal to be without an antler for up to a year. 

Horns appear to form earlier than antlers on younger animals such as goats or bison, where Mountain Goat kids will be displaying small pointed black horns within a few short weeks of its birth, while antler buds appear at several months or so after a calf or fawn is born. But once they are in place and growing, they grow quickly.

Left to right: Mountain goat kids show horn formation, easily seen against the white; Watson the moose shows nubs of antlers developing in his first winter of life in 2019. Bison calves also show horn development early on in life. 

Antler is the fastest growing tissue of any mammal on the planet. With a healthy diet and high caloric intake, a moose can put on as much as a pound of antler in a single day. In the scope of just eight months’ growth, moose antler can grow from tiny buds as big as your thumb to gigantic antler racks measuring up to six feet across or 1.8 meters from tip to tip. A large moose’s antlers can weigh up to forty pounds or nearly 20 kilograms on average. Some very large moose antlers may weigh up to 75 pounds or 35 kilograms.

Credit Alaska News Source

Source credit: Alaska News Source

Back to construction for a moment; another key difference between horned and antlered animals is how the physiology of horns and antlers differ.

Horns have a central, conical bony core or cornual process that grows out from the frontal bone of the skull. On close examination of a horn you will see what appears to be layers of horn material (keratin) growing a new layer at the base which will grow longer over time and become thicker with subsequent new layers of keratin forming as the animal ages.

After 6 months of age, the bone becomes hollow and the space within it is continuous with the frontal sinuses. The surface of the bone is rigid and porous and is covered with an internal surface which keratinizes and forms the protective covering of the horn. The new horn produced at the base is soft and often transparent giving the horn a glossy appearance. Horn growth function is similar to how the cuticle on your fingers and toes produce the nails.

Source credit: Talmudology

Antlers however attach to the animal’s skull between the eye and ear at a place called the pedicel where they will grow to full size for that year over about eight to ten months. The antlers separate from the skull at the point of attachment, the pedicel.

Antlers separate from the skull at the pedicel, typically in the winter months.

The antler side is called the corona and forms a bone to bone connection with the pedicel on the skull that is remarkably strong until the its time to shed that year’s antlers. There is a chemical influence when the animal’s hormones change following the rut and seasonal progress that causes the bone between the corona and the pedicel to dissolve where eventually it weakens enough that the skull can no longer support the weight of the antler and it falls off. Both antlers may fall off at the same time, but it is common for both antlers to fall off over a couple of days.

Horns are mostly hollow, white antlers are made up of less dense, sponge-like bone called the trabecular that has been highly vascularized during formation allowing blood to flow to the tips of the antlers to facilitate their growth. Antlers require blood to grow while horns do not.

While antlers are covered in velvet, they are also engorged with blood which provides another important benefit besides growing the antler. As animals do not perspire or sweat in any way, they must expel excessive body heat by panting as many animals do. Antlers perform like radiators where body heat is expelled by the blood-filled antlers.

Ears of most deer species shed the fur and hair off them in the warmer months so they too can dissipate body heat. If they would let you, you could take the pulse of an antlered animal by finding a blood vessel on their fuzzy antler and placing your fingers on it to feel the beat of his heart. Don’t try this at home…or anywhere else.

Both horns and antlers have also been used by people since prehistoric times for tools of various kinds.   The hollow nature of horns has made them desirable for spoons, scoops and hand shovels or scrapers while the strength and hardness of antlers has often found them to be the material of choice for making hunting points for spears and arrow heads. Antler has also been a popular material for handles of tools like knives and axes.

Creativity and need, guided the early peoples to adapt and modify both horns and antlers for a wide variety of tools and other purposes to better their quality of life. They have often been used to make buttons for clothing or ornamentation. Antlers have been carved into needles for sewing of clothes, shelter and similar products, Horns were popular as gun powder containers as they would prevent the powder from getting wet and were easy to carry and measure the appropriate amount of powder into the firearm.

Yukon art Hints of Easter by Faye Chamberlain, 2021. Yukon Permanent Art Collection.

Both antlers and horns provide important functions for the animals that grow them so they may live healthy, secure lives. Their headgear has also influenced many of their social behaviors that have developed and evolved over the centuries. These include mating rituals and protective activities against potential predators.

Most of us have seen sheep rams rearing up on their hind legs and pounding their horns against another ram in courtship competitions, but they may use their horns to communicate in less violent ways. Rams may interlace their horns and gently rub ear to ear as a form of communication that we can only guess what it means.

Antlered animals also employ their antlers as a means to communicate for example when two young bulls will use their antlers to joust or push each other around like a game of reverse tug o war.

Antlers are also a means of displaying size and age which will determine their social order of who is dominant and who is subordinate. From a distance the size of the antler rack quickly displays the animal’s placement in the local social order, typically around the breeding season or rut when many male moose may gather in an area for an opportunity to breed with cow moose drawn to the area by pheromones carried in the wind.

Bulls with smaller antlers will size each other up based on their antler racks and determine their chances of winning a fight with a larger bull.

Animal headgear serves a number of important benefits for the creatures that grew them. Humans have also found inventive and beneficial uses for both antlers and horns once the animals are finished using them. Humans often use antlers and horns for tools, but they can also be transformed into wonderful works of art. Nature provides.

Doug Caldwell

Doug Caldwell

Wildlife Interpreter

Doug is one of the Interpretive Wildlife Guides here at the Preserve. An avid angler and hunter he has a broad knowledge of Yukon’s wilderness and the creatures that live here. With a focus on the young visitors to the Preserve, Doug takes the extra time to help our guests to better appreciate the many wonders of the animal kingdom here in the Yukon.

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Fall In to Autumn

Fall In to Autumn

Fall In to Autumn

5 minute read – 
Autumn is a season of change! It’s the bridge which helps us transition from summer towards winter. What a beautiful bridge it is, with leaves blazing colour in vibrant hues of red, orange and yellow. Fireweed has flowered and the leaves are crimson. Against this backdrop the first snows fall on the mountaintops.

Birds begin their migration back to their southern overwintering grounds, after a summer spent mating, nesting, rearing young, and eating well. Before we see the V’s flying overhead, we often hear them honking and calling to each other.

In the world of ungulates, it is the time of the rut. Antlered animals have finished growing this season’s antlers; their velvet has sloughed off and now they sport their hardened, ready-to-duel finery. We can see and hear as the males clash, challenging each other for the right to breed the females. Elk stags bugle, bull moose softly grunt – calling to interested females in the area and warning off competing males.

Watson, in the foreground, has shed the velvet on his first year’s full antler growth.

Those with horns are also clashing. This looks less like a duel and more like a train crash. Thinhorn Mountain Sheep rams, both Stone and Dall subspecies, run at each other and smash heavy horns together – the echo of this collision ricochets like a rifle shot. Muskox bulls have been rumbling since early August, chasing each other, establishing dominance and finally banging horns as they work to impress the females for breeding rights.
We begin to notice a lack of Arctic Ground Squirrel activity. We no longer hear the constant shrill warnings as nearby predators hunt; where are these industrious rodents? Hibernation comes early – females are already underground for the long winter ahead, and the last of the males aboveground continue to harvest and stockpile their midden, into early October. Predators such as Red Foxes can be seen traveling from one burrow-entrance to another…..looking for a disappearing meal of ground squirrel which used to be in abundance. Soon they’ll be gone completely, hibernating through the winter, under a thick layer of blanketing snow – but not just yet.

Autumn means hibernation is coming.  We’ve noticed a lessening of Arctic Ground Squirrel activity at Yukon Wildlife Preserve.

Humans are adding clothing layers, finding sweaters, mitts and toques in storage. We need these warm additions on the crisp, cold autumn mornings. Afternoon sunshine heats up; we turn our faces to the sun and shed those layers – it’s not winter yet! So too are the animals growing coats of winter fur, wool and hair. Mountain goats have spent all summer shedding last winter’s wool; almost immediately it’s time to grow in this winter’s layer of hair. Arctic Foxes are beginning to add some white to their brown and grey camouflage. They not only change colour with their winter fur, they also add seeming bulk. All those layers of white fluffy fur help them stay warm, maintain body core temperature and thrive in the harsh winter environment of the Far North.
Enjoying this short season is highly recommended – there’s nothing as seasonally relevant or celebratory as jumping into a pile of autumnal leaves. Cranberries are ripening, harvesting continues. Underneath the beauty of the changing season, there is a sense of urgency. Whether we are human or animal, we know winter is coming, and while it’s not here yet, time and opportunity are limited to eat, put enough weight on, or store food to survive the coming months.

Summer is over, the cycle continues. Autumn is the clear signal to prepare for what’s ahead. Fall in to Autumn; experience the sights and sounds with enjoyment, wherever you are.

Julie Kerr

Julie Kerr

Visitor Services Coordinator

Julie is a Registered Veterinary Technologist, living and working in Whitehorse since 2012. She joined the team in May 2018. She is passionate about wildlife, nature and living in a conscious manner with both. Her free time is spent outdoors observing wild animals and ecosystems; her connection to the natural world around her brings great joy – joy she loves to share with anyone interested. Honestly? Work and life blend rather seamlessly.

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Mother’s Day Tribute

Mother’s Day Tribute

Mother’s Day Tribute

1.5 Min Video – 

Whether we are human or a furry animal, we can’t do it without our Mothers! They nurture and care for us, setting us on the path to a healthy and successful life.  Join us in this tribute to mothers everywhere, of all shapes and sizes.
Maybe you were my birth mom, maybe you’re the mom that helped me later. Anyway you slice it, you’re the best.

Thanks Mom!

Lindsay Caskenette & Julie Kerr

Lindsay Caskenette & Julie Kerr

Visitor Services Manager and Visitor Services Coordinator

Lindsay and Julie love to share the Preserve the same way they explore life – full on and full of adventure!  They have a collective love of:  Animals....Lindsay dogs, Julie foxes; Adventure.... Lindsay dog mushing, Julie extreme camping;  both take on animal personas during story telling.  Together they support the Preserve with a strong Visitor Services presence and often, they even get work done (this happens most often when the other one is out of the office).   

867-456-7400
 info@yukonwildlife.ca

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