Fox pants, fish tales and mammoth bones: CBC North's best animal stories of 2016

Everybody loves a good critter story and in the North, amazing animal tales are truly one of our greatest natural resources. Some arecomic, others tragic, heart-warming, awe-inspiring, or simply baffling.

And many of them could only happen in Canada's North.

Here's a look back at some of our wildest and most popular animal stories from the past year.

A wolf, a bear, and a crazy plan

This one came right from the you-couldn't-make-this-stuff-up file it involvedan aggressive, hungrywolf, a protective mama bear, and an N.W.T. woman who likely saved her own hide by pitting the two animals against each other.

• 'I was in trouble': Beer can and bears save mushroom picker from hungry wolf
• After terrifying wolf encounter, N.W.T. woman faces media storm and naysayers

Joanne Barnabywas picking morel mushrooms in the woods near Fort Smith in June when she found herself confronted by a wolf. What followed was a grueling12-hour hunt, deep into the woods. The wolf would not relent.

That's enough of a story in itself, but things took a bizarre turn when Barnaby and the wolf happened near a bear and her cub. Barnabythen took a wild and dangerous gamble she lured the wolf towards the bear cub.

Mama bear could not abide, soa fight broke out between bear and wolf and Barnaby was able to quietly slip away and find her way to safety.

"It most definitely was unusual," Barnabylater said, showing herself to be a master of understatement as well as survival.

Emergency fox pants

Nunavutis never short of greatsurvival stories, butthis one was particularly memorable for the ingenuity demonstrated by a skilled hunter, and for the foxy pants he made.

• Nunavut hunter falls through ice, makes pants out of a fox to stay warm

Jimmy Iqaluq was hunting polar bear alone on the sea ice near his community of Sanikiluaqlast February when he fell through the ice. His snowmachine, and gear, sank. Iqaluqmanaged to scramble out of the water and then builthimself an igloo for shelter. But his pants were soaked and his legs were getting numb.

Solution? New pants.

Iqaluq hadcaught a fox earlier that day, so he pulled the skin off and voil newfur trousers that kept him toasty until rescuers camethe next day.

Stunning photos

Yukon can be a photographer's paradise especially if the photographerhas a thing for animals.

Stan and Melody McKenzie of Haines Junction, Yukon hit the wildlife photojackpot in March, when they spotted a mother lynx and five kittens sunning themselves on the HainesRoad.

• PHOTOS:Leisurely lynx surprise Yukon photographers

The McKenziesmanaged to take a bunch of amazing photos before the animals slipped off into the woods,and no surprise the photos proved to be internetgold.

Yukon photographer Peter Mather also made waves this year with some of his stunning shots. He won three awards in an international photo contest including an award for an awesome (andtechnically challenging)salmon-under-Northern-Lights shot.

Mather also wowed people with a series of intimate shots he took this summer of the migrating Porcupine caribou herd, in northern Yukon.

• PHOTOS:Up close with the migrating Porcupine caribou herd
• PHOTOS:Yukoner Peter Mather nabs 3 awards in international photo contest

Nunavut's Glenn Williams also shared some captivating shots of a community walrus hunt near Iqaluit this past fall. The 14-person hunting party went out ona two-day trip and returned with four walrus.

For some young hunters in the party, it was the first time they were able to harvest the awesome animals and Williams' pictures capturethe joy and excitement of the moment.

• PHOTOS: Young Iqaluit hunters catch 3 walrus on community hunt

Fish tales

Last year may have given us that freakishneon greenjackfish, but 2016 offered some pretty coolfish stories too from a huge and possibly record-breaking lochecaught in Aklavik, N.W.T.,to the first salmon harvested in more than a decade by a Yukon First Nation.

The 1.12 metre long, 12.7 kilogramloche(or burbot) was caught last fall by James Blakein Aklavik. It was more than a kilogram heavier than the current record for loche, but Blake's still waiting for the International Game Fish Association to review his catch and confirm his world record.

His angling secret?

"No secrets," he said, "I just use the same thing as everybody else."

• Aklavik man 'jiggles' a whopping 1-metre-long loche fish
• Next world record? Aklavik man's huge loche is in the running

Another fish made news this year in Nunavut, although it was actually caught a few years ago. It was no record-breaker, but it did serve to confirm for scientists what Inuit have been saying for years Atlantic salmon can be foundoff Baffin Island.

The salmon was caughtin 2012 nearClyde River, where you'd more typically landArctic char. The head was frozen and sent for genetic testing, and earlier this year the results finally came it was indeed a salmon.

For researchers, it wasanother indication that the Arctic is changing, with warmer marinetemperatures allowing species to range further afield.

• It's official: unusual Atlantic salmon catch confirmed in Clyde River, Nunavut

Salmon also made news in Yukon this year, wherethe Teslin Tlingit Council lifted a self-imposed 17-year moratorium on chinook salmon fishing.

The First Nation held a fish camp on TeslinLake in August, and netted three fish. Not enough to feed the entire village,but plenty cause for celebration nonetheless.

"This is part of who we are, who we are as Tlingit," said Duane Aucoin of the Teslin Tlingit Council. "It's welcoming home our family."

• PHOTOS: 'Who we are:' Teslin Tlingit harvest first salmon in 17 years

Mammoth bones and horse skulls

Yukon had a bunch of other great animal stories this year, some involving beasts long dead, or even extinct.

Archaeologists have been digging up bones and fossils in Yukon for years, sothere's nothing particularly remarkable about finding new ones.

But RogerKyikavichikof Old Crowfound a real whopper, while out duck hunting on the Crow River in June a huge woolly mammothfemur bone, apparently intact,andsticking up out of the water.

• Duck hunter fishes woolly mammoth bone out of Yukon's Crow River

"Pretty impressive," according to a Yukon government paleontologist.

There wasanother neat findthat month in theCarcrossdesert notnearly as old, but still valuable to researchers. A century-old horse skeleton, stumbled upon by tourists.

The storyof the find took a more interesting turn when someone made off with the gnarled, desiccatedskull, hours after its partial resurrection.

Archaeologists issued a plea for its return, and a week latersomeone delivered it to the office of a local newspaper. Skull and boneswere reunited.

• Tourists find old horse skeleton inCarcrossdesert, skull goes missing
• Headless no more: Missing Yukon horse skull returned

Menacing bears and wolverines

Besides Joanne Barnaby'sadventures with wolf and bear, there were still morestories this year about Northerners facing down a potential four-legged threat.

There were, as usual, worrisome stories about polar bears menacingNunavutand N.W.T. communities, including one bear that ripped a bunch of tents in Iqaluit'spopular Sylvia Grinnell Park this summer.

Yellowknife was also on alertlast month after a wolverine was spotted several times around town, including near a middle school. The animalevaded capture for a week before finally being trapped and moved 160 kilometres out of the city.

Then there was the story of 17-year-old DeannaNetser, and her fox-killing mop.

• Fox vs. frozen mop: Nunavut girl, 17, claims victory over nighttime visitor

The Arviat teen spotted the Arctic fox near her house earlier this month, and decided to face it down after the crittertried biting her dog. The only weapon at hand was a frozen mop, but that was enough for Netser.

She made quick work of the varmint, and it's a good thing, too the carcass later tested positive for rabies.

The rescuers

There were also heart-warming stories of animals in distress being rescued by do-gooders sometimes illegally.

Joe Moosenose in Whati, N.W.T. found a bald eagle with an injured wing last June, and brought the bird home to care for it.

Turns out that under the territory's Wildlife Act, it's illegal to remove a bird of prey from the wild and keep it captive. The bird was taken by wildlife officials to be cared for, butMoosenose wasn't charged as officials saw"no ill intent" on his part.

In Whitehorse, two eaglets fellfrom their nestand likely "would have been hooped" if they hadn't been found by a couple of photographers, who deliveredthe birdsto theYukon Wildlife Preserve.

The preserve also ended up with a bunch of baby woodpeckers that had been orphaned after their parents flew into a window, as well as "Jesse," a young moose that was attacked by dogs, and rescued by a teenager named Jesse.

• Wildlife officials care for bald eagle rescued illegally
• Young moose on the mend after dog attack near Whitehorse
• 'I call him little Gerry': Yukon photographers rescue 2 baby eagles