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POLAR REGION ANIMALS Flipbook PDF
POLAR REGION ANIMALS
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POLAR REGION ANIMALS
INTRODUCTION It’s frigid and you’re surrounded by ice. You wonder how any animal could survive in this extreme cold. Then a polar bear and her cubs lumber by, and in the ocean behind them a whale erupts from the water. Our planet Earth is a huge sphere that spins on its axis. Wrapped around the centre of the sphere, like an imaginary belt, is the equator. The closer to the equator you are, the warmer the temperature is. The further away from the equator you are, the colder it generally is. The most northern point of the Earth is called the North Pole. The most southerly point of the Earth is called the South Pole. Around the North Pole is a polar region called the Arctic Circle; the polar region known as the Antarctic Circle is in the south.
As you can guess, the Antarctic Circle mostly consists of the landmass of the continent called Antarctica. Meanwhile, the Arctic Circle passes through 8 countries: Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Russia, the United States, Canada and an offshore island that's part of Iceland. Often found nowhere else in the world and possessing fascinating adaptations to their Polar habitats, here are some facts about Polar animals.
Children of all ages will enjoy colouring in these Polar Animals Mindfulness Colouring Sheets: a fun activity to follow on from learning.
Polar bears
First on the list of Polar region animals is the largest bear in the world, the Polar Bear. The Polar bear is a huge, fearsome creature, whose strength and speed make them the top predators in the Arctic.
Polar bears spend the majority of their lives on sea ice. They are also very good swimmers, so much so that they can swim 6 miles per hour (ca. 10 km/h) using their unique swimming technique of paddling with their front paws and holding their hind legs flat like a rudder. The water in the Arctic is unsurprisingly freezing cold, meaning that polar bears have to be heavily insulated to exist in such conditions. For insulation, polar bears have a super thick layer of body fat and a water-repellent coat that protects them from the cold arctic air and water
Artic Fox
The Arctic fox is another of the most common polar region animals. Despite looking very cute, these foxes are extremely tough, durable creatures. They have to be this way in order to survive the cold, harsh conditions of the Arctic, where temperatures can dip as low as –50 °C in treeless areas. Arctic foxes have furry soles to their paws, short ears, and a short muzzle, all of which allow them to exist in the cold Arctic conditions. In terms of their habitats, arctic foxes tend to live in burrows and, in the event of a blizzard, they have been known to tunnel down into the snow to create shelter.
Emperor Penguins
Emperor penguins are one of the few penguins adapted to living in the cold south Polar Regions. They are flightless birds who have adapted to life in water and on land. Adults are tall and are known to work together to help find food and keep warm during harsh Antarctic blizzards: they group together to form a raft at sea or a colony on land.
Walrus
The walrus (Odobenus rosmarus) is a large flippered marine mammal with a discontinuous distribution about the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean and subarctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. The walrus is the only living species in the family Odobenidae and genus Odobenus. This species is subdivided into two subspecies:[2] the Atlantic walrus (O. r. rosmarus), which lives in the Atlantic Ocean, and the Pacific walrus (O. r. divergens), which lives in the Pacific Ocean.
Mus ox
The muskox (Ovibos moschatus, in Latin "musky sheepox"), also spelled musk ox and musk-ox, plural muskoxen or musk oxen is a hoofed mammal of the family Bovidae. Native to the Arctic, it is noted for its thick coat and for the strong odor emitted by males during the seasonal rut, from which its name derives. This musky odor has the effect of attracting females during mating season. Its Inuktitut name "umingmak" translates to "the bearded one"
Arctic Hare
The Arctic hare[2] (Lepus arcticus) is a species of hare highly adapted to living in the Arctic tundra and other icy biomes. The Arctic hare survives with shortened ears and limbs, a small nose, fat that makes up close to 20% of its body, and a thick coat of fur. It usually digs holes in the ground or under the snow to keep warm and to sleep. Arctic hares look like rabbits but have shorter ears, are taller when standing, and, unlike rabbits, can thrive in extreme cold. They can travel together with many other hares, sometimes huddling with dozens or more, but are usually found alone, sometimes taking more than one partner. The Arctic hare can run up to 60 kilometres per hour (40 mph).[3]
Arctic Wolf
The Arctic wolf (Canis lupus arctos), also known as the white wolf or polar wolf, is a subspecies of grey wolf native to the High Arctic tundra of Canada's Queen Elizabeth Islands, from Melville Island to Ellesmere Island. Unlike some populations that move between tundra and forest regions,Arctic wolves spend their entire lives north of the northern Treeline. Their distribution to south is limited to the northern fringes of the Middle Arctic tundra on the southern half of Prince of Wales and Somerset Islands.It is a mediumsized subspecies, distinguished from the northwestern wolf by its smaller size, its whiter colouration, its narrower braincase,[6] and larger carnassials.
Harp Seal
The Harp Seal (Pagophilus groenlandicus), also known as Saddleback Seal or Greenland Seal, is a species of earless seal, or true seal, native to the northernmost Atlantic Ocean and Arctic Ocean. Originally in the genus Phoca with a number of other species, it was reclassified into the monotypic genus Pagophilus in 1844. In Greek, its scientific name translates to "icelover from Greenland," and its taxonomic synonym, Phoca groenlandica translates to "Greenlandic seal
Svalbard reindeer
The Svalbard reindeer (Rangifer tarandus platyrhynchus) is a small subspecies of reindeer found on the Svalbard archipelago of Norway. Males average 65–90 kg (143-198 ) in weight, females 53–70 kg (116154 ) while for other reindeer generally body mass is 159–182 kg (350-400 ) for males and 80–120 kg (176264 ) for females.
Antarctic Shag
The Antarctic shag (Leucocarbo bransfieldensis), sometimes referred to as the imperial cormorant, king cormorant, imperial shag, blue-eyed shag or Antarctic cormorant, is the only species of the cormorant family found in the Antarctic.[1] It is sometimes considered conspecific with the Imperial shag (Leucocarbo atriceps).[2]
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