The Roosevelt elk is Vancouver Island’s largest and most charismatic land mammal and is specially adapted to the temperate rainforests of the Pacific Northwest.
Banana slugs are charismatic, often bright yellow creatures that are signature members of the rainforest community.
Beautiful and extremely rare in Canada, the Scouler’s corydalis is found only on southwest Vancouver Island around the Nitinat, Carmanah, and Klanawa valleys in Ditidaht and Huu-ay-aht territories.
One of the most poisonous, yet beautiful plants of the coastal rainforest is false hellebore (also known as Indian hellebore).
Nurse logs are a hallmark of the old-growth forest, where the slow death of ancient trees is the mechanism of forest renewal and rebirth — not only do they support the new growth of trees, they also a range of rainforest creatures.
Devil’s club is one of the most dreaded banes of the coastal bushwhacker. Towering to over 16 feet (5 metres) high, this plant sports huge, maple-esque leaves and wicked spines coated in irritating oils.
Deer fern is abundant in the coastal rainforest. Read on to learn more about these special rainforest dwellers.
A sure sign of spring on the west coast is the emergence of the spectacular western skunk cabbage.
The red-legged frog is a beautiful and secretive inhabitant of the coastal rainforest.
Among the myriad lichens that adorn and encrust the coastal rainforest, few are as striking as Icmadophila ericetorum. This mint-green carpet speckled with tiny pink globes is known as “peppermint drop lichen” or “candy lichen” to some, but in British Columbia, most prefer the evocative nickname “fairy puke lichen” to capture its unique blend of the sickly and the fanciful.
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