Arctic Animals

Its snowy and cold today in Mongolia, so we decided to take a look at some arctic animals and see how they manage in the winter. We have already spent some time researching polar bears, so today we were especially interested in finding out more about the Arctic Hare and the Arctic Fox. Lets take a look...

Surviving in the Cold Cold Arctic!

Keeping Warm and Finding Food

Our first question was about keeping warm. When we go outside in the winter, we take our hats and coats with us... but what do animals do? And how about food? The SciShowKids Helped us to learn more.

Here's what we found out:

Nuri: "I didn't know that some of the animals changed the colour of their fur from winter to summer!"

Martha: "I hadn't heard about the Ptarmigan birds they talked about".

Rosaleen: "I didn't know about that bird either, and I didn't know that it dives into the snow to make burrows! That would be freezing for us! And also about the changing fur, I didn't know that either. I didn't know that arctic foxes change their fur from black-brown in summer to white in winter. I also didn't realise that the artic fox eats arctic hare bunnies!"

The Arctic Hare

Arctic Hare | National GeographicSee how the seemingly delicate arctic hare survives some of the harshest conditions on Earth. Get the facts on this fluffy snow bounder.

The Arctic Hare

We wanted to learn more about the arctic hare but we couldn't find a lot of infomation written especially for children. So we had a look at the National Geographic, and using this and the information we learned in the SciShow Kids Video we decided to make a list of fun facts about the arctic hare! We hope you like it!

10 Arctic Hare Facts by Martha, Nuri and Rosaleen

Keeping Cosy! The clever hares keep warm by having a lovely thick coat of fur, they also dig holes and then huddle together with other hares to keep warm
Beautiful Little Ears! Arctic Hares have shorter ears than other kinds of Hares. It helps to keep them warm.
Bigger than Bunnies! They are bigger than most rabbits, and they have taller hind (back) legs.
Super Speedy! Arctic Hares are very fast. They can run at up to 40 miles per hour!
Clever Camoflage! In the winter the hares have a lovely fluffy white coat so that they can blend into the ice and snow, and in the spring and summer their coat changes colour to blue grey, to look like the rocks, grasses and land around them!
Bouncing Babies! Arctic Hare babies grow very quickly. The are usually born in Spring, and by September (Autumn/Fall) they begin to look like their parents.
Friends and Family! Sometimes Arctic Hares like to be alone, but sometimes they also gather in groups of hundresd or thousands of other hares.
Digging for Dinner! Arctic Hares have to dig through the snow to find their food - woody plants, moss, and lichen. They also eat buds, berries, leaves, roots and bark
Traditionally they were important to Native Americans They were a source of food and their fur was used for clothing
Watch Out Hares! They are hunted by Arctic Foxes too!

Credit: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/arctic-hare

The Arctic Fox

Arctic FoxNot far from the North Pole, the world is frozen for thousands of miles. Suddenly a snowy mound wiggles and reveals two dark eyes. The lump is transformed into the furry white body of a lone arctic fox. The canine casually shakes the blanket of snow off her thick coat—the key to her survival. But warm fur alone might not keep this fox alive during the polar winter, when temperatures rarely get above zero degrees Fahrenheit. Until spring arrives, this arctic fox will rely on some freeze-defying strategies, making it a champion of the cold.

The Arctic Fox

The National Geo Kids Website had some information on the arctic fox and we found a very sweet video clip of a curious arctic fox. We hope you like them too! Here are our favourite facts about the Arctic Fox...

Things We Were Surprised to Learn About the Arctic Fox!

Rosaleen & Nuri "We didn't know that the golden eagle hunts the arctic fox!"

Martha " I didn't know that their feet have a thick layer of fur like snow boots!"

Nuri "I wish I had a fluffy tail too! And I didn't know that an arctic fox can hold it's hunger for up to 2 weeks if food is scarce" - The arctic fox goes into a sort of mini hibernation in it's den to do this.

Martha "And then when they start hunting again they can make it through the long winter better if they have food in their belly"

Rosaleen "I learnt that the group name for a group of arctic foxes together is called a leash; and I also didn't know that some of their dens are more than 300 years old!" - Their dens are used by many generations - mothers, fathers, grandparents, great grandparents and on and on!

Arctic Art!

We love to draw so we found some nice drawing classes to help us draw something that might be like an Arctic Hare and An Arctic Fox...!

Storytime!

We found these three lovely stories about the Arctic Hare and Saving the Arctic!

Little Polar Bear and the Brave Little HareAll is quiet at the North Pole when Lars, the Little Polar Bear, hears a faint whimper. He finds and rescues Hugo, a scared little hare, ...

Read by the author - thank you Bethany Stahl.

Credits: Thank you to National Geographic, National Geographic Kids, Scholastic, SciShowKids, ArtKidsHub, KidArtX, Goodreads.com and the Authors, Illustrators and Publishers of these lovely stories.

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