Looking for an X-treme vacation? If you head to the Arctic, the icy region north of the Arctic Circle, you can run with the polar bears as you try to outrun frostbite! Winter temperatures can drop to -58°F (-50°C), and summer temps average about 50°F (10°C). Swimming, anyone?
Cool Customers
The Arctic is home to lots of inhabitants who know how to survive in its frigid climate. Native peoples, including the Inuit, Aleut, and Saami, have lived there for thousands of years. Plenty of animals live in the Arctic, too, including walrus, wolverines, whales, muskox, seals, caribou, and at the top of the Arctic food chain, polar bears!
Polar Predators
Polar bears are the world’s largest land carnivores, standing as tall as 12 feet (3.6 m) and weighing up to 1,600 pounds (725 kg). These endangered bears, whose diet is mostly seals, eat 4½ pounds (2 kg) of fat every day to insulate their bodies from the cold. That’s like drinking three large glasses of pure bacon grease daily!
FAST FACT
• Polar bears live mostly above the Arctic circle, and their preferred habitat is near water, so they can hunt seals. Polar bear populations are found in Canada, the USA (Alaska), Greenland, Russia, and Norway.
Unpredictable Pole
The North Pole itself is actually frozen seawater called “polar ice pack.” You can’t mark the position of the North Pole for very long since the ice tends to shift around. Early Arctic explorers thought that they could reach the North Pole by ship if they waited for the right time of year…except the area is frozen all year long. Several of these attempts ended in unfortunate iceberg accidents.
How Do You Like Your Eggs?
If you have to forage for food, eggs have been a favorite snack among Arctic explorers. There are no trees, so birds lay their eggs on the ground. In the summer months, there is some plant life and some of it is edible, including Arctic raspberries and blueberries. (Smoothie, anyone?) In the coastal areas, there are hundreds of species of fish native to the Arctic Ocean, including cod, trout, and salmon. Hope you like a seafood smorgasbord!
HOW TO SURVIVE A POLAR BEAR ATTACK
- Keep your distance. Yes, polar bears have been known to stalk humans. If you come face-to-face with a polar bear, you don’t stand much of a chance. Your best bet is to avoid them. Try not to let them see or even smell you. If you spot one, stay downwind from it!
- Be a bigger bear. If a bear starts to charge, make noise, wave your arms around, and try to appear bigger than you are. If you are with a group of people, huddle together and hold a jacket over all of your heads. Make that bear think twice about attacking.
- Play alive. If all else fails, stand your ground and fight back. Kick the bear as hard as you can, quickly and repeatedly. You can only hope the bear will think you’re too much trouble and give up!
- Back it up. If you see a polar bear and you think it sees you, slowly back away from it without turning your back. Whatever your brain might be telling you, don’t run. You won’t win that race.
