Wildlife of the Arctic
The Arctic is vast, barren and freezing for most of the year. Remarkably a large variety of wildlife thrives here, and much of it is very visible.
The seas, especially in coastal waters and around island archipelagos, are very rich, with whales, walrus, dolphins, seals and Polar bears (Ursus Maritimus) all abundant and mostly (apart from the bears) recovering well from persecution.
The land too can be surprisingly lively, with caribou, musk ox, wolves, bears, moose, foxes, hares and, wolverine and many more all managing to exist in the frozen north.
Birdlife is prolific and dominated by sea birds who use some of the enormous sea cliffs to roost. Many birds that winter further south spend their summers in the High Arctic so there is much to see.
Explore run a series of Arctic Cruises and Spitzbergen Polar Bear watching holidays.
Recent Arctic news
- Polar bear species just 150,000 years old
- Animal kingdoms longest known migration revealed.
- Place your bets on endangered species
- Unsung wildlife threatened by climate change
- Canada takes steps to protect north in face of global warming
- Arctic to be ice free in summer – Consequences for polar bears
- Cook Inlet beluga population in steady decline
- 131 walrus calves trampled to death in Alaska
- Alaskan congressman wants to change rules to allow polar bear trophy imports
- Pacific Brant geese wintering in Alaska as the sea warms
- Dramatic biological responses to global warming in the Arctic
- Oil installations in Arctic are bad for birds, good for predators
- New technology provides automatic whale detection system for ships
- Denmark requests a quota of 50 Humpback whales for ‘subsistence whaling’
- Seal hunt in Canada to close some 200,000 short of target
More Arctic news
- Dramatic worldwide decline in caribou/reindeer numbers
- Russia bans hunt for all harp seals under one year of age
- Polar bear poaching in Russia down – But climate change threatening their existence
- Conservation plans for Greenland white-fronted goose after populations drop by 30% in 10 years
- Snowy owl tracking discovers unsuspected behaviour – Winter on the icepack
- Grazing animals will exacerbate warming
- Caribou calf mortality caused by global warming
- Is Greenland’s “subsistence” whaling a profit making scam?
- 245 Million-year-old Burrows of Land Vertebrates found in Antarctica
- Unsustainable hunting practices wipe out vast colonies of seabirds in Greenland
- Thin ice, caused by global warming, threatening Harp seal pups and other wildlife.
- Photographing and spotting Polar Bears around Spitzbergen
- Ribbon Seals Endangered by loss of Arctic Sea Ice
- Good news for Bowhead whales in the Arctic.
- Global warming disaster as thousands of harp seal pups perish
Related News Articles
Photographing and spotting Polar Bears around SpitzbergenFly to Spitzbergen and join an expedition cruise to see these fantastic beasts, as well as much more.
![features/polar-bear1[1]](/resources/listimg/features/polar-bear1[1]@small.jpg)
Polar bear watching in Spitzbergen.Fly to Spitzbergen and join an expedition cruise to see these fantastic beasts, as well as much more.
Read the full article.
![features/walrus6[1]](/resources/listimg/features/walrus6[1]@small.JPG)
THE WILDLIFE OF BAFFIN ISLAND, LANCASTER SOUND AND THE HIGH ARCTIC.Read the full article.
