Mammals
The Taiga is host to a myriad of animal species from roving herds of Bison in the Mackenzie and Slave Lowlands to the muskoxen of the Northern Great Bear Plains. Large herds of caribou migrate yearly to their preferred calving grounds, followed by packs of wolves and fox, scavenging the nomadic herds. Moose can be found in many ecoregions of the taiga where more deciduous trees grow.

Muskoxen were formerly restricted to tundra areas east and northeast of the Taiga Plains. Their range has expanded recently, and now extends south as far as the Norman Range near Norman Wells. Upland areas with shallow snows, in close proximity to lush sedge and shrub lowland summer feeding areas, provide optimal habitat.

Caribou occur throughout much of the Taiga Plains, west of the Slave River Upland and south of the Mackenzie Delta. They prefer open mature coniferous forests and bogs during winter where ground and tree lichens are abundant. In spring and summer wetter areas such as fens, marshes, river and lake shorelines are favoured.

Optimal Moose habitat consists of young forests, mostly a result of forest fire, which consists of willow and regenerating or young aspen, birch and poplar. Moose also uses areas along rivers and lakeshores with their abundance of shrubs and aquatic vegetation, extensively.

Photo: P. Myers

Many of the animals of the taiga plains have had to adapt to the harsh winter conditions they encounter on the plains and the black bear is no exception, gorging themselves in the warmer months enabling them to hibernate in the winter. Grizzly bears also inhabit the plains in the Central and Northern Great Bear Plains Ecoregions

Black Bears are a wide-ranging wildlife species that inhabit the Taiga Plains. The diverse and abundant assemblage of fruit-bearing shrubs and forbs within the region provides good habitat for this ubiquitous omnivore. The highest densities of black bears in the Northwest Territories occur in the southern Taiga Plains.

Grizzly Bears vary considerably in size depending on the area they inhabit. In the NWT they are generally smaller than those elsewhere. In the Mackenzie Mountains, where winters are long and cold and the forage is sparse, the heaviest male recorded in a 5-year study weighed only 214 kg. Females are smaller than males and do not continue to gain weight with age as males do.

Three important furbearing mammals of the Taiga Plains with distribution maps showing their range in the Northwest Territories.

The taiga plains of the Northwest Territories are an ideal habitat for many furbearing mammals including foxes, martens and weasels, that feed mainly on rodents. The larger carnivores prey on more substantial game ranging from the snowshoe hare being a staple for the
lynx and wolves preferring caribou, moose and even bison.

Wolves are distributed throughout the Taiga Plains Grey shaded area - Tundra Wolves Blue shaded area - Boreal Wolves Blue-Grey shaded area – Overlap Red shaded area - High Arctic Wolves

The Lynx is a member of the "felid" or cat family. It lives in boreal forests across North America. Within the NWT, lynx are found below the tree line and are most numerous in the southwest and in the Mackenzie Delta. Although other prey is eaten, lynx depend heavily on snowshoe hares to thrive. As a result, the lynx populations fluctuate with cycles of the snowshoe hare.

Birds
Here on the Plains are the spring and summer breeding grounds for vast flocks of migratory birds, from the smallest of warbler species to the Trumpeter Swan with a wingspan of up to eight feet. In the spring the skies are alive with enormous flocks of ducks and geese which nest throughout the Taiga. The Slave Lowland Ecoregion contains the only known nesting grounds of whooping cranes in the world. Of the roughly 300 species of birds that breed and nest on the taiga, approximately 30 species are year round residents.

White Crowned Sparrow

Sandhill Crane

Tundra Swans

Willow Ptarmigan

Many insect eating birds come to the taiga to breed. They leave when the breeding season is over. Seedeaters like finches and grosbeaks and omnivorous birds like ravens stay all year long. There are numerous species of hawks and owls that call the taiga plains their home. Most of these are migratory but some, like the Snowy Owl are year round residents. The Gyrfalcon was declared the official bird of the Northwest Territories in 1990.

Peregrine Falcon Gyrfalcons

American Kestrel

Gyrfalcons

Reptiles and Amphibians
Amphibians (frogs, toads) and reptiles (snakes) are cold-blooded creatures. Unlike mammals, they depend upon sunlight and other external sources of heat, such as that reflected or otherwise
supplied by soil and rock, to regulate their body temperatures.

Wood Frog

The Red-sided Garter Snake is the only snake species that can be found in the Northwest Territories, near the southern border with Alberta.

Out of some 200 species of amphibians and reptiles found in the western half of North America, only few have managed to overcome the difficulties of surviving the severe winters of the Taiga Plains.