A Canary Dog?

What animal are the Canary Islands named after?

Dogs! Canary birds are named after the islands (where they are indigenous), not the other way around.

The archipelago gets its name from the Latin name for the largest of the islands, which the Romans named Insula Canaria (Isle of Dogs) after the large number of dogs there, both wild and domesticated.

The volcano on La Palma in the Canaries is said to have the potential to cause a catastrophic collapse of the western half of the island, creating a tsunami the could cross the Atlantic and hit the Eastern Seaboard of the USA eight hours later with a wave as high as ninety feet.

Canaries are a kind of finch. For centuries, British mining regulations required the keeping of a small bird for gas detection. They were used in this way until 1986, and the wording wasn't removed from the regulation until 1995. The idea was that toxic gases like carbon monoxide and methane killed the birds before they injured the miners. Canaries were favored because they sing a lot, so it's noticeable when they go quiet and fall over.

A diet of red peppers can turn canaries orange!