Nature Records

Earth Natural Disasters Plants Animals Domestic Mystery Prehistoric

Record holders and places are Canadian unless noted.
(GWR - Guinness World Record)

Oldest Volcanic Rocks On Earth
Volcanic rocks dated at 3.825 billion years have been discovered in the Inukjuak area in northern Quebec. The precise dating was performed by the University of Quebec, Montreal and the Simon Fraser University in British Columbia in 2002. (GWR 2004)

Largest Uninhabited Island
Devon Island in the Arctic Circle north of Baffin Island has an approximate area of 66,800 km² (25,800 miles²). A third of the island is covered in ice and the rest is barren. (GWR 2003)

Largest Meteorite Crater
A crater-like formation of 442 km (275 miles) in diameter is on the eastern shore of Hudson Bay. (GWR 1998)

Longest Submarine Canyon
The submarine Labrador Basin canyon between Labrador and Greenland is 3,440 km (2,140 miles) long. (GWR 1998)

Largest Freshwater Lake
Lake Superior has a surface area of 82,350 km² (31,800 miles²). (GWR 1998)

Largest Lake Within A Lake
Largest Lake Island
Lake Manitou, found on the 2,766 km² (1,068 miles²) Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron, covers an area of 106.42 km² (just over 41 miles&sup2). Lake Manitou contains a number of islands. (GWR 1998)

Strongest Currents
The flow of the Nakwato Rapids of the Slingsby Channel in British Columbia may reach a rate of 30 km/h (16 knots). (GWR 1998)

Broadest Strait
The Davis Strait between Baffin Island and Greenland has a minimum width of 338 km (210 miles). (GWR 1998)

Largest Bay
Hudson Bay has a shoreline length of 12,268 km (7,623 miles) and an area of 1,233,000 km² (476,000 miles²) (GWR 1998)

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Most Damaging Ice Storm
From January 6 to 14, 1998, an ice storm in eastern Canada and United States shut down airports and rail stations, blocked roads and cut off power to 3 million people. The commercial and business centers of Montreal were blacked out as power transformers toppled from the weight of the ice. The total cost of damage was estimated at $650 million. (GWR 2001)

Most Destructive Geomagnetic Storm
The "Great Geomagnetic Storm," a classified G5 on the space weather scale, had abnormally strong solar wind causing large-scale disruption to the power grids in Canada and the US and changed the orbit of a satellite. (GWR 2002)

Most Acidic Acid Rain
A pH reading of 2.83 was recorded over the Great Lakes in Canada and the US in 1982. (GWR 2000)

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Largest Sunflower Heads
A sunflower with a diameter of 82 cm (32 in) was grown by Emily Martin of Maple Ridge, British Columbia, in 1983. (GWR 2004)

Largest Edible Fungi
A giant puffball measuring 2.64 m (8 ft. 8 in.) in circumference and weighing 22 kg (48 lb. 8 oz.) was discovered by Jean-Guy Richard in 1987. (GWR 2002)

Slowest Growing Tree
A 155-year-old White Cedar located in the Canadian Great Lakes area is less than 10.2 cm (4 in.) high and weighed 17 g (0.6 oz.), averaging an annual wood growth of 0.11 g (0.025 oz). (GWR 1998)

Biggest Pumpkin
Gary Burke of Simcoe, Ontario, grew a pumpkin that weighed 1,092 lb. on October 3, 1998. (GWR 2000)

Largest Squash
John and Chris Lyons of Baltimore, Ontario, had a squash weighing 408.5 kg (900 lb. 8 oz.) in 1994. (GWR 1998)

Largest Swede
Norman Craven of Stoufville, Ontario, had a swede weighing 28.27 kg (62 lb. 3 oz.) in 1996. (GWR 1998)

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Cat With The Most Toes
Jake, a five-year-old male ginger tabby, has 28 toes, with seven on each paw. His owners are Michelle and Paul Contant who had Jake's toes officially counted on September 24, 2002. (GWR 2004)

Largest Deer
An Alaskan moose, killed in Canada in September 1897, stood 2.34 m (7 ft. 8 in.) and weighed an estimated 816 kg (1,800 lb.). (GWR 2002)

Largest Antlers
A moose killed near the Stewart River, Yukon, had an antler spread, or "rack," of 1.99 m (6 ft. 6.5 in.) in October 1897. The rack is displayed in Chicago's Field Museum, Illinois, USA. (GWR 2003)

Biggest Eyes On An Animal
An Atlantic giant squid found in Thimble Tickle Bay, Newfoundland, in 1878 had eyes with an estimated diameter of 20 in.

Longest Rodent Hibernation
Arctic ground squirrels, found in northern Canada and Alaska, hibernate for nine months every year. (GWR 2002)

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Dog With The Largest Repertoire of Tricks
Toy poodle Chanda-Leah, owned and trained by Sharon Robinson, can perform a repertoire of 469 tricks including playing the piano, riding a skateboard and knowing her three, four and five times tables. (GWR 2003)

Highest Freestyle Jump By A Dog
Wolf, a Russian wolfhound who owned and trained by Seanna O'Neill, made a freestyle jump of 160 cm (5 ft. 3 in.) during the Superdog Show at Klondike Days in Edmonton on July 28, 1999. (GWR 2002)

Most Well-Traveled Cat
In February 1984, a cat called Hamlet escaped from his cage on a flight from Toronto and got stuck behind some paneling. He stayed there for seven weeks, traveling about 956,600 km (600,000 miles) or about the same distance as going around the world 24 times. (GWR 2002)

Biggest Single-Sex (Male) Dog Litters
Cleo, a great lady owned by the Aplenbricks, gave birth by Caesarean section to 14 male puppies on February 19, 1998, in Ladysmith, British Columbia. (GWR 2000)

Largest Pigeon
A Canadian giant runt cock pigeon, called Doc Yeck and owned by Leonard Yeck, weighed 1.8 kg (4 lb.) on March 6, 1999, with a chest width of 12.7 cm (15 in.). (GWR 2002)

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Closest Encounter With A Water Monster?
Mrs. B. Clark reported that, on a morning in July 1974, she was swimming near Lake Okanagan's southern shore when she felt something heavy make contact with her legs. She claimed she saw a hump 2.5 m (8 ft.) long travelling away from her. She estimated the creature to be 7.6-9 m (25-30 ft.) long and only 0.9-1.2 m (3-4 ft.) across. The description corresponds closely to 'extinct' serpentine whales. (GWR 1998)

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Largest Fossil Trilobite
A fossil trilobite, 445 million years old, discovered in Canada measured over 70 cm (27.5 in.) in length was announced on October 9, 2000. (GWR 2002)

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