8 Animals Found in the Arctic

The North Pole is often associated with reindeers and Santa’s workshop, but this vast land covered in snow actually has a few other inhabitants. Below are 8 wild animals that treat the cold arctic their home.

Arctic Fox

This specific species of fox are known for their ability to adapt to the cold of the arctic. During the warmer months, their white coat is a darker, blown color which sheds and turns white when winter comes in. They also have a rounder body shape which helps keep their body heat in.

Greenland Shark

Also known as the Gurry shark or Grey shark, this shark specimen is one of the very few that actually stay in the Arctic area. Little is known about these animals, mainly because they live in really cold areas and are hard to study. The Inuit treat these animals as sacred.

Salmon Shark

The Salmon Shark feeds mainly on salmon and is seen in the northern most parts of the pacific and around the Alaskan region. One of the strangest traits that these animals have is that they can maintain body temperature, which is strange amongst fish.

Arctic Wolf

A possible subspecies of the gray wolf that’s found in the Melville Island to Ellesmere Island, these wolves are known for their snow-white fur. They travel in packs of 13 to 15 individuals and feed on everything from hares to polar bear left-overs. Contrary to their mainland counterparts, arctic wolves are less afraid of humans and even approach them.

Narwhal

These animals are the closest you can get to a real unicorn. Although they look like dugongs or seals, these animals are actually a kind of toothed whales and are related to the beluga whale. They have a tusk, which is actually their canine tooth, which can grow to around 4 ft 11 inches to 10 ft 2 inches. They live year-round in the arctic.

Walrus

Walruses are huge animals that can weigh up to 4,400 lb. Adult specimen are recognized by whiskers,prominent tusks and bulky body features. They’re considered as "keystone species" around the Arctic regions because they have a large effect on the area due to their abundance. Although they may be cute to a look of people, walruses can actually be dangerous.

Orca

A member of the oceanic dolphin family, Orcas are actually found all over the world and not just in the cold arctic waters. They’re tagged as apex predators, which mean that they really don’t have any natural predators, making them rule the waters the swim in.

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Climate Change Affects Hudson Bay Polar Bear Population

The seasonal ice freeze in Hudson Bay is underway, which makes it time for the regular migration polar bears make to the coastal areas of Churchil, Manitoba.

Ursus maritimus, the largest bear in the world and the apex predator in the Arctic, relies heavily on sea ice for survival. These patches of frozen seawater serve as a crucial platform for the bears to hunt for ringed and bearded seals.

During the summer, when the ice melts for several months, polar bears go inland, conserving their energy in what’s known as a ‘walking hibernation; state. This was the cycle for hundreds of years, but serious changes are affecting polar bears, particularly the populations that regular come to Hudson Bay.

Research for the past 40 years shows sea ice cover in the Arctic declined by as much as 30 percent since 1979. According to Steven Armstupf of Polar Bears International, as greenhouse gases continue to reach ocean temperatures, polar bears are finding themselves staying longer on land.

For instance, the Hudson Bay polar bear population now spends an average of close to 30 days longer than they did three decades ago. That means the bears end up losing more weight, about 2 pounds, according to research, for each day they spend on land, and are therefore lighter by 60 pounds than they were 30 years ago.

This drop in weight also means polar bears are giving birth to smaller cubs, which can lead to problems surviving in the wild.  It’s theorized that polar bears ‘will be the first to go’ in a warming world, since depend on a habitat that melts once temperatures rise. If nothing changes, these animals could go extinct in the wild by 2050.

Read the full story on National Geographic.

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