[1] He spent his life travelling extensively throughout the circumpolar regions and to other remote parts of the globe.

He also conducted research and published on animals in many other areas of the globe.

He spoke nine languages and wrote more than a thousand articles for publications around the world, including Canadian Geographic, Natural History, National Geographic and Smithsonian.

Born Friedrich Karl von Brümmer (Latvian: Frīdrihs Kārlis fon Brimmers) in Riga, Latvia, to a Baltic-German family, he emigrated to Canada in 1951 and became a citizen in 1956.

His book Survival - A Refugee Life, published in 2005, talks about the harrowing ordeals the young Bruemmer went through during World War II, which led him from his Latvian birthplace to eventual immigration to Canada.