These are the most Canadian animals, according to one study [Video]

The most Canadian animal? It’s not the beaver that marks the nickel, the moose that pervades souvenir shops across the country, the loon that gave the one-dollar coin its nickname, or even the much-maligned Canada goose.

In fact, the spiny softshell turtle is Canada’s most distinct animal in evolutionary terms, researchers from Simon Fraser University show in a first-of-its-kind study.

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Arne Mooers, a biodiversity professor who led the research, says it means the threatened freshwater turtle found in southern Ontario and Quebec has spent the longest stretch of time evolving independently from other species in Canada.

The researchers started by building a “tree of life” using Canada’s official list of species, which includes 222 mammals, 674 birds, 48 amphibians and 49 reptiles.

They identified the top 20 most isolated species for each group and found …