For most of its history what is now Manitoba has been under water and ice Four hundred and fifty million years ago a vast warm sea covered much of the area The sea eventually drained Then twenty thousand years ago during the most recent Ice Age the land was buried under a massive ice sheet three kilo metres deep in places As the ice melted and retreated it pulverized bedrock plopped boulders in odd places carved giant potholes in the soil and created a 1 100 kilometre by 320 kilometre lake known as Lake Agassiz Lake Agassiz eventually drained and disappeared but signs of Manitoba's watery origins are everywhere Ridges and sand dunes mark places where shorelines and deltas once existed and fossils of extinct sea creatures are plentiful Manitoba is crisscrossed by rivers many of them formed as the ice sheet melted There are over 100 000 lakes too and the largest of these Lakes Manitoba Winnipeg and Winnipegosis are direct descendents of Lake Agassiz
From the end of June to mid September over 3 000 beluga whales gather at the estuary where the Churchill River empties into Hudson Bay They come to feed and give birth before retreating into Canada's high Arctic for the winter Nicknamed sea canaries belugas chirp whistle click squeak and moo to communicate with each other and track their prey They often swim close to boats sometimes nudging them gently and twisting their heads as if stopping to say hello and B also stands for bison Known as the supermarket of the plains because it provided First Nations people with food tools and other necessities the bison is honoured for its role in Manitoba's history and appears on both the provincial flag and its emblem Brandon second largest city in Manitoba is another B Located in the southwest corner of the province in the heart of the grain growing district Brandon is called Canada's Wheat
D is for Beluga whales who click and squeal and sing sometimes turn their heads to share a friendly greeting
