Adaptations to the Cold:

How do animals and plants live in the Arctic?

OK. Its COLD up there in the Arctic. Really, REALLY cold. Winter lasts 9 months of the year, and the sun sets for more than two months. At night, temperatures can fall to -80 F. How do animals and plants manage to survive in such a cold place? What is special about their bodies or behaviors that allows them to live in this incredibly cold place?

Land Mammals

Polar bears and wolves have thick fur with hollow shafts that trap warm air close to the body. Musk Ox have an additional layer of fur that protects it from wind and water. All are large, rounded animals with relatively short arms and legs to minimize heat loss. Polar bears also have black skin underneath their fur which allows it to absorb heat from the sun.

Polar bears remain active throughout the Arctic winter.

They spend their time both in and out of ICY water. Fur keeps them warm on land, but can be a problem if the air heats up. Its hard to lose heat with heavy fur!

Fur isnt as good for keeping warm underwater. Therefore, polar bears also have a thick layer of blubber, which keeps them warm in the water.

Land Mammals

Moose, unlike most Arctic animals, have long legs. These are helping for stepping in the snow, but could cause it to lose a lot of body heat.

Caribou often migrate long distances to avoid the cold and search for food and shelter. They have broad hooves that splay out and help them walk across the snow. The hooves also help them swim and to dig in the snow to find plants buried below.

Small Arctic Mammals

Many small mammals, particularly rodents like the ground squirrel, hibernate during the winter. Hibernation means they rest- almost like sleeping- for many weeks or months without eating, drinking or even waking up! Their body temperature drops and they live off of stored fat. Many people think of bears when they think about hibernation, but most bears dont really hibernate. They get up several times throughout the winter to forage for food, and some females give birth during this time.

Small Arctic Mammals

Arctic hares have very short ears and legs to prevent heat loss. They also have large padded feet that act like snowshoes to help them hop across the snow.

In spring, hares are brown with black flecks, but in winter, they change to all white. The color change serves as camouflage to protect it from predators.

Small Arctic Mammals

Collared lemmings have enlarged front claws that allow it to burrow under the snow or ground making extensive runways and nesting areas. Like the hare, they have short ears and tails to prevent heat loss and change color from winter white to spring brown.

Arctic Birds
Ptarmigans remain in the Arctic year round. They change color from brown in the spring to solid white during the winter. The color change helps to protect them from hungry predators. To keep warm, they have water-repellent outer feathers in addition to inner feathers. They even grow feathers on the soles of their feet to keep their feet warm and serve as snowshoes to prevent them from sinking in the snow! Another solution to staying warm is to take flight and dive into drifts of snow. The snow acts like a blanket and traps heat from the ground.

Arctic Birds
Other birds deal with the cold winters by avoiding the situation all together. As winter approaches, birds like the Redthroated Loon and Arctic Tern migrate south to warmer regions.

The Arctic Tern is an amazing bird in that every year it migrates all the way from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Thats over 22,000 miles!!!

Arctic Marine Mammals

Seals and whales have more blubber than polar bears.
artery

capillaries

vein

artery

They also have two sets of blood vessels- one just under the skin and one under the blubber. When they get cold, they can shut off almost all the blood supply to the skin, so they dont lose heat. The blood stays inside the warm blubber all the time.

capillaries

vein

If they swim fast or get into warm water, they let more blood go to the skin surface so they can lose heat.

Arctic Marine Mammals

Seals and whales also have special sets of blood vessels in their flippers to help them stay warm. Each artery (carrying oxygenated blood away from the heart) is surrounded by many veins (carrying used blood back to the heart).

As the cold blood in the veins returns from the skin to the heart, it is gets heat from the warm blood running through the artery. This way, the seal or whale doesnt lose its body heat in the cold water. This type of heat exchange system is called a countercurrent heat exchanger.

Arctic Fish
Unlike seals and other mammals, fish do not keep their body temperature much higher than the water around them.

The important thing is for the fish to keep ice crystals from forming inside their body, because ice builds quickly once it starts. Therefore, some fish have a protein in their blood that acts like antifreeze in a car. It binds to ice crystals, isolating them from each other so they cant grow.

Arctic Amphibians
Wood frogs combat the cold by freezing almost solid. As temperatures drop, the frogs liver releases sugars into its cells that keep them from freezing solid.

Arctic Insects
The willow gallfly survives the winter in Alaska by supercooling down to temperatures of about 60oC (14oF). The gallfly has a protein called glycerol in its body. Glycerol is very hard to freeze, so ice crystals do not form inside the gallflys body.

The wooly bear caterpillar spends most of its 14-yr life frozen soilid. It combats the effects of freezing by producing special chemicals to prevent ice from forming inside its cells, allowing it survive temperatures of -70oC (20oF).

Arctic Insects
Bumblebees shiver their flight muscles to generate heat and trap the warmth of their velvety fur. They can increase their body temperature as much as 15 C above the air temperature. Queen bumblebees burrow into leaf winter to survive winter.

The nose bot fly takes refuge warm nose of the caribou. It deposits its offspring which then crawl through the caribous nose into its throat where they spend the winter warmed by the caribous body heat.

Arctic Plants
Plants grow low to the ground which protects them from the cold Arctic air. The ground is darkly covered and absorbs heat from the sun. The ground also has more moisture.

They can also find protection from the cold and wind by growing in cracks and crevices of rocks.

Arctic Plants

Lichens grow very slow so do not require a lot of sunlight and nutrients to remain alive. Some lichens are estimated to live for over 5000 yrs. and to grow as little as 1 mm per yr. They have developed a thick outer layer to prevent from drying out and have special chemicals to protect its cells from freezing.

Other plants die back in the winter or produce underground buds that remain dormant in the winter but sprout in the spring. The marsh marigolds flowers follow the sun and focus light and warmth in toward the pollen. The warmth attracts pollinators!

Which ptarmigan is ready for winter?

Who will lose the least amount of heat in the cold?

Whose young stay warm by living in the nose of a caribou?

Who migrates over 22,000 miles from the Arctic to the Antarctic?

1 2

Who uses their claws to dig tunnels and runways through the snow and leaf litter to find a warm home?

Who uses blubber to protect from cold waters?

Which fox is better adapted for life in the Arctic?

2 1

Humans are animals too and the native peoples living in the Arctic have adaptations that allow them survive the very COLD weather.

Like many animals, Arctic natives have adapted to the cold weather by having body shapes that reduce heat loss. People may be relatively shorter and rounder with smaller arms and legs because so they have less exposed skin and more body cells to produce internal heat.

They also have narrower nasal passages to prevent the moisture in the air from freezing in their noses when they breathe and protects the lungs and brain from cold temperatures.

In the high Arctic, people have darker skin to absorb heat and protect from harmful ultraviolet radiation.

Natives also eat a lot of fatty meats which generate heat when they are broken down in their stomachs. They obtain the meat from hunting Arctic animals such as seals and whales.

The natives also hunt fox, lynx, bear and moose and use the furs and skins to keep warm. Clothing is often sewn with needles made from the bones of the animals.

Skins were also used to make tents and bones were used to make hunting weapons.

Natives also collect foods such as berries and greens and go to fishing camps during the summer so they have enough food for use in the winter. They can dry the fish so it lasts longer. Although during winter, many people fish through holes cut in the ice.

Gather flowers of saxifrage and eat with seal oil.

Use cotton from Arctic cotton to use in quilts and mattress stuffings. The whole family would spend time throughout the summer and early fall to gather enough for winter use.

For many years, dog sleds were the primary means of ground transportation to travel across the icy ground. Today, many natives use snowmobiles instead.

To transport groups of people across waters, some natives use an Umiak. The boats are made from the skins of hunted animals.

Temporary homes are made from snow and ice and built close to the ground to stay warm during winter. These structures are used for shelter during winter fishing and hunting expeditions.

In the summer, Arctic natives often live in tents made from animal skins during fishing and hunting trips.

Today, many people live in homes similar to ours.

Humans are quite remarkable! Think about how weather affects so many things in lifewhat you wear, how you look, what you eat, what you do for fun? How does the weather in Port Aransas affect your life?