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Bras d’Or Biosphere

I have been told that Bras d’Or cod (Mi’kmaq: peju) are “wormy.” The Mi’kmaw term for worm is “weti” but there isn’t a term that is specific for the cod parasitic worm. I know exactly what...
Mi’kmaq designs featured red, yellow, black and white long before colonists brought packaged dyes to Cape Breton. So, where did the colours come from? Red (mekwe’k), in particular, is a notoriously difficult dye colour to get...
As the climate warms, our Biosphere is changing. Our new normal may mean a good habitat for species that used to be confined to more southerly environments. This is the case with the striped bass, and...
In this column, we are going to revisit the porcupine (Mi’kmaq: matues) and its colourful quills. In particular, we are going to look at the sources of violet (nisqunanamu’k) and blue (musqunamu’k) pigments. The red (mekwe’k)...
The summer populations of hummingbirds (Mi’kmaq: militaw) should be well established in our Biosphere by now. Did you know that we only have one species, the Ruby-throated variety? The Bras d’Or Lake Biosphere is near the northern...
We don’t know as much about the owls (Mi’kmaq: ku’ku’kwes) of the Bras d’Or Lake Biosphere as we do about other birds. I expect that may be due to the fact that observers are not out...
In this story, we are going to revisit the porcupine (matues) and its colourful quills which have been used by many generations of Mi’kmaw artists to adorn clothes, baskets, furniture, and many other things. The strong...
During this year’s Bras d’Or Watch field day on July 14, participants noted flocks of swallows (Mi’kmaq: pukwales) at all five sites. These charismatic acrobats were quite numerous and entertaining. Their apparent abundance is of interest...
Why do some plants have medicinal value for humans? Plants produce multitudes of chemicals. Some of these chemicals are of primary importance in their metabolic processes and some are secondary. The bulk of chemicals...




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