Science says: “Yes, sort of”
Well into my adulthood, I had assumed that the noble beast gracing the reverse side of our quarters was a moose. Clearly, I was not a terribly observant coin collector. I don’t know how old I was before a closer inspection had revealed to me that it was, in fact, a caribou. I am surprised that Emanuel Hahn, the designer of our quarter, (and dime and former silver dollar) didn’t choose the more popular moose. Perhaps, in 1937, the caribou was the more fashionable ungulate and the moose has only recently become iconic. Certainly the moose is now king of the Canadian souvenir T‑shirt—when was the last time you saw a cartoon caribou in a Mountie uniform?
So how does this translate into a holiday blog? Well, DNA research by biologists has revealed that though they have always been considered different animals, the North American caribou and the European reindeer do in fact belong to the same species. They are cousins to one another, separated by the rising waters of the Bering Strait following the last ice age. In their long separation, they evolved quite differently.
Although neither variant of the species is currently known to fly, oral traditions from Western Yuletide celebrations speak of just such a thing: an overweight man (or elf—sources disagree) with a large sack of toys travelling in a flying sleigh pulled by eight reindeer. Or are they caribou? In a press release from the journal Physiological and Biochemical Zoology, Dr. Perry Barboza from the University of Alaska suggested that young caribou are more suited to this annual feat than are reindeer.
“Calves entering their 1st winter have the greatest power-to-mass ratios, because their legs are proportionately longer and their body is leaner than those of adults… What has been reported in sightings as ‘eight tiny reindeer’ are therefore likely to be young caribou.”
So next time you pull out a fistful of quarters to feed a parking meter or to do your laundry, you might stop to think about the animals that really may have pulled that flying sleigh: eight juvenile, North American caribou.
The Museum Blog
Teaching art with currency
By: Adam Young
From design to final product, bank notes and coins can be used to explore and teach art, media and process.
New Acquisitions—2022 Edition
It’s a new year—the perfect time to look back at some notable artifacts the Museum added to the National Currency collection from 2022. Each object has a unique story to tell about Canada’s monetary and economic history.
Money: it’s a question of trust
By: Graham Iddon
The dollars and cents we use wouldn’t be worth anything to anybody if we didn’t have confidence in it. No matter if it’s gold or digits on a hard drive, public trust is the secret ingredient in a successful currency.
The day Winnipeg was invaded
By: David Bergeron
People on the street were randomly stopped and searched, and some were even arrested and imprisoned in an internment camp. Even German marks replaced Canadian currency in circulation—in the form of If Day propaganda notes.
Positive notes
By: Krista Broeckx
The imagery on the Bank of Canada’s 1935 note series depicts the country’s rich industrial history.
Army bills: Funding the War of 1812
In 1812, British North America had no banks and little currency. With the prospect of war drying up supplies of coins, the government of Lower Canada decided to issue legal tender notes called “army bills” to pay for troops and supplies.
Between tradition and technology
By: Graham Iddon
What was proposed was a complete about-face from the philosophy behind recent security printing. If photocopiers could easily deal with the colours and designs of the current series, then the next series should be bold and simple.