CBC North's animal newsmakers of 2018

After years of research and analysisinvolving teams of reporters and producers working across the country, CBC North can now confidently statethis:people love animal stories.

Every year, manyof CBC North's most popular and widely-read news stories involve pets and wildlife and2018 was no different.

Here, in no particular order, are 10 of our favourite and most popularanimal newsmakers of 2018.

1. The pup-sicle

This fellow made the news around the world this year, despite being dead for about 50,000 years.

The ice age wolf pup's complete remainsweredug up from the permafrost near Dawson City, Yukon, by miners in 2016, but it took researchers until this yearto confirm its remarkable age and present their findings.

Researchers said it's the only mummified ice age wolf ever found in the world.

"It's so cute, it's beautiful, it's amazing," said Yukon paleontologist Grant Zazula.

2. The albino seal

Leopa Akpalialuk,pulled this oddity out of his nets a couple of weeks ago near Pangnirtung, Nunavut a small, albino ringed seal.

They'renot unheard of in Nunavut, but rare. And according to Inuit traditional knowledge, they should be respected and not harvested.

The seal was dead when Akpalialukfound him, though, so the hunter put the pink-eyed critter on display at the local visitor centre.

3. Yellowknife's busy beavers

Blocked streams, flooded trails, property damage and complaints of aggressive tail-slapping this was the year beavers really asserted themselvesin Yellowknife.

A flooded baseball diamond was closed for a while, and there was even concern that the N.W.T. Legislature was at risk of flooding, if the busy rodents managed to raise the water level on Frame Lake.

Wildlife officials even started trapping someto move them out of town.

"You just calm them down, talk gently to them, then they relax. When you release them, they just swim away," said wildlife officer Adrian Lizotte.

4. Boars gone wild

Crafty escapes always make for good stories, but few people were cheering afterseven Eurasian pigs, or wild boars, broke free from their pen on a Yukon farm last summer.

Some of the animals were quickly found and killed, but othersmanaged to run free for weeks. Experts also warned of possible ecological disasterif a feral population somehow took hold in Yukon.

For weeks, it was an open question whether the last of the fugitives would ever be found. But by summer's end, they'd all been shot.

The farmer was fined $400 and was encouraged to improve his fencing.

5. The dog who hates music

Yellowknife's Mike Mansfield likes to have music playing around the house or even pick up the guitar and strum a bit. The trouble is, familydog Tukgoes bonkers every time.

The Yellowknife dog who hates music

6 years ago

Duration 0:57

Tuk the dog has become extra sensitive to all tunes.

It doesn't take more than a chord or two before Tuk starts loudly howling and whining. The Mansfields were told by their vet that it's most likely a learned behavioural reaction, so Tuk's now undergoing immersion therapy.

6. Iqaluit's bowhead whale

It was a hunt seven years in the making and worth the wait.

A group of Iqaluit hunters in several boats harvested a bowhead whale in Augusta first for that community since 2011, and only the second bowheadhunted near Iqaluit in a century.

The beast did not die without a fight, either hunter Brandon Oolayou, who planted the first harpoon, got knocked into ice-cold Frobisher Bayby the whale.

"It was crazy, it was scary. It was more intense," said Oolayou.

Themuktukfilled many freezers in the community.

7. The beaver-hunting lynx

Gerry Trudeau ofCarmacks, Yukon, didn't realize at first what he'dcaught in his camera trap. He thought he just had some cool shots of a busy beaver.

Then, in one image, he spotted a watchful lynx in the background. Trudeau kept his camera in place, and more amazing scenes followed.

Eventually, there was violent showdown between the animals again caught by Trudeau's camera.

Guess who won?

"It's sad for the beaver, absolutely but it's the circle of life," Trudeau said.

8. Fluffy, the travelling hamster

Fluffy the hamster from Fort Simpson, N.W.T., apparently had so much fun on vacation in High Level, Alta., he decided to hide out in the family's hotel room as they packed to head home.

Christine Tsetso's family tried hard to find him, but eventually gave up.

Fluffy reappeared for the room's next guests conveniently, another family from Fort Simpson.

A Facebook post about their hotel room guest found its way to Tsetso, and Fluffy was soon back home.

9. Wandering sperm whales

"They're not known by us, we don't know too much about them," said guide Titus Alloolooof Pond Inlet, Nunavut, after a couple of sperm whaleswere spotted near his community in September.

Two sperm whales spotted in Arctic waters near Pond Inlet, Nunavut

6 years ago

Duration 0:52

In this video by WWF-Canada from September, two sperm whales are spotted swimming near Pond Inlet, Nunavut, much further north than the animals are normally found. Scientists say the rare sighting could indicate underlying shifts in the Arctic ecosystem.

World Wildlife Fund scientist BrandonLaforest, who also saw the whales, said it was "really shocking" to see the southern whales so far north, close to freeze-up.

Laforestalso said it was a sign that the Arctic habitat is changing, as animals moveinto new areas to find food.

10.Nanook, the Lassie of Alaska

Amelia Milling of Tennessee met Nanook as she was lying alone andinjured at the base of a 100-metre slope she'd just tumbled down, in Alaska's ChugachState Park.

"He showed up suddenly out of nowhere. I thought he was a wolf at first until I saw the bone tag," Milling later said.

The white husky then spent the next day and a half by Milling's side, eventually giving her the motivation to get up and attempt to walk to safety.

Along the way, he even helped pull her from a freezing river.

Milling didn't know it at the time, but Nanook waswell-known for his rescues he's an honouraryAlaska State Trooper, and he's even been dubbed "Alaska's version of Lassie."