Once up on a time, the passenger pigeon was one of the most common birds in North America. Up until the early 20th century, these birds existed in huge migratory flocks. However, habitat destruction and hunting led to the birds’ disappearance. The passenger pigeon became extinct when “Martha” died in Cincinnati Zoo in 1914. One hundred years later, scientists are studying the DNA of these birds in an attempt to resurrect the species.

Andre Paquette designed a few sequences of what the flocks of resurrected passenger pigeons could look like for an upcoming episode of 16×9. These animations were built with a 3D model, then treated to fit the scenes they appeared in.

For the new season of The West Block, GlobalGFX has teamed up with the folks in Ottawa to bring you, our faithful viewers, some insightful and beautiful animations. Christmas came early—we received a package in the mail, and we were gifted with many portable chargers for mobile devices.

To Jennifer Madigan and The West Block team: thank you for the chargers! In the short time we’ve known you, it’s been a pleasure working with you We enjoy building the primers every week and we strive to create even stronger value added content for The West Block. We look forward to building a relationship with you and your team.

Our newest member of the team, Tonia Huynh flew in from Edmonton to receive a dash of graphics training and love. As the new Visual Journalist in Edmonton, Tonia will produce visuals for Global Edmonton. We wish her the best of luck!

Fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs are once again hoping this “could be the year” for their hockey team to end its Stanley Cup drought. It’s not just the Leafs: a Canadian team hasn’t won since 1993.

Designers: Annu Gulati and Beth Mally

This weeks episode 16×9 investigates the explosions from the deadly mills in British Columbia in 2012. Explosive wood dust has been uncovered as a new and unforeseen hazard. Leo Kavanagh‘s infographic explores how these explosions happen.

A group of athletes in the U.S. are ringing alarm bells about potentially toxic components found in rubberized artificial turf. Several soccer players diagnosed with cancer are questioning the link between their diagnosis and years of playing on artificial turf covered with crumb rubber.

Chris MacDougall built an animation for Global News Toronto about the crumb rubber in synthetic grass and its effects on soccer players.

Global National’s Eric Sorenson discusses some surprising results in education statistics across the country.

Designers: Annu Gulati and Beth Mally

More than 20 trekkers, including four Canadians, have died and dozens of others are missing after a powerful storm pushed into Nepal, causing an avalanche and blizzard conditions.

When the British gave Hong Kong back to China in 1997, China promised the city could be semi-autonomous, continue running a capitalist system, and offer freedom of speech, religion and of the press.

With disappointing sales since the launch of Target in Canada, the company claims to be reducing prices. But with Target’s new discounts, are the prices actually cheaper than their competitors? Global News visited Target, Walmart and the Real Canadian Superstore and formed their own conclusion.

As we stand on the brink of getting involved in another foreign war, we have a snapshot of how many Canadians support airstrikes against ISIS targets in Iraq.

Designers: Annu Gulati and Beth Mally

This past weekend, Neil Sangani, Matthew Peleshok and Earl Aspiras built these fantastic set graphics for Global National. Check them out!

For this week’s edition of The West Block, Dean built this animation about the popularity of the Liberal party.

Utilizing the Global National look, these were created for a three-part Global National special with Jennifer Tryon.

According to the RCMP, there are approximately 7000 long-term missing people in Canada, a number that grows by 270 each year.

What’s the best and cheapest Canadian cellphone plan out there?

Our resident Visual Journalist, Chris MacDougall built this animation for Global Toronto’s Laura Zilke on microbeads.

The Canadian Museum for Human Rights just opened on Friday in Winnipeg.

Check it out! Andrew Miller and Neil Sangani built this animation for the Tom’s Take segment on The West Block about the Scottish Referendum.

One of our newest members of GlobalGFX, Chris MacDougall, designed and animated this primer for Season 5 of The West Block. The animation also lives here on Globalnews.ca.