Description
This 2014 $20 pure silver coin beautifully captures the majesty and beauty of the Caribou. The coin is double struck with the Royal Canadian Mint’s highest quality proof finish and weighs just over one full ounce of .9999 fine silver. Mintage is limited to 8,500 coins. HST/GST exempt.
The Design:
The art by Trevor Tennant and features a full colour caribou set in an engraved mountain landscape.
The Caribou:
The woodland caribou is the only member of the deer family in which females also grow antlers. Biologists believe it may be due to the intense competition caribou face digging for lichen and other plants. Antlers are grown and shed annually, but pregnant females will lose their antlers later than males, possibly to gain an added reservoir of calcium for their gestating calves.
Caribou live in Canada’s most isolated regions beyond the 49th parallel. They are categorized into three ecotypes based on specific behaviours and adaptations they have developed by living in different habitats. The tundra ecotype reigns as the farthest-travelling land migrant on earth, spending winter in the boreal forest and moving to the tundra north of the 55th parallel in summer to calve—an astounding roundtrip of 6,000 km per year that perfectly illustrates the vastness that is Canada.
