(Bruce Doran) Hello, my name is Bruce Doran.
I'm one of the staff scientists that works here at Science North.
And here at Science North, we have a new exhibit called Arctic Voices
which examines some of the plants, animals, and people
that live in the Arctic
and some of the challenges they're facing
with our changing environment.
In this clip, we're going to see how land-based animals and plants
are adapted to living in such frigid environments.
So I'm standing beside one of our iconic exhibit pieces,
the mounted polar bear right here.
And polar bears are well adapted to the Arctic.
They have a couple of different adaptations.
One of them is their fur.
They actually have hollow hairs as fur
which help to retain some of the heat in their body
and they also have a very thick fat,
almost blubber layer almost 10 cm thick
that actually will keep them nice and warm.
In fact, polar bears, if they run for short periods of time on the ice,
they can actually overheat.
So they're really well insulated for the cold.
Another important adaptation are their paws.
They have these very large paws with claws
that allow them to walk on the ice
but also to swim.
These bears will spend a long time in the water swimming around,
so they need these large paws in order to get around.
So here's an example of an arctic animal
and how well adapted it is to living in the Arctic environment.
So I'm standing beside a mount of an arctic fox,
another animal that we have here in our exhibit Arctic Voices.
And you will notice that this fox is a little bit different than the red foxes
that we are accustomed to seeing.
One thing you notice is that the ears are much smaller,
and they have small ears to prevent them from freezing
in such frigid environments.
The other thing is you notice that it has a white coat,
so the arctic fox is actually white in the wintertime
and actually sheds that white coat in the summertime
to become more of a brownish color.
And this allows them to camouflage in their landscape.
Another feature that is quite interesting about the arctic fox
is that there's kinda a change of behaviors depending on times of the year.
In the wintertime, they will follow the bears
and eat any scraps the bears will leave behind
whenever they do their kills, which are usually seals.
In the summertime, they have more access to food,
whether it be lemmings or maybe even eggs.
And there's so much food that the arctic fox can't eat it all,
so a lot of times what they will do is they will store their food,
kinda hide it within the landscape,
which they'll then get access to it later on,
maybe during the wintertime when it's harder to get food.
So these guys are very clever creatures
in order to be able to survive in our harsh Arctic environments.
So I'm standing beside two mounts of another animal
that we have on our exhibit, arctic lemmings.
Now, lemmings are in the rodent family.
They are like mice that you find in the Arctic.
And as you can see, one adaptation they have,
just like the arctic fox,
is that they can change color,
which obviously helps them to camouflage.
But they have another very interesting adaptation.
As the winter season approaches,
they actually grow these specialized, large claws
that will allow them to dig into the snow
in order to get access to food
and also to get away of predators.
So they actually change their body shape
in order to better survive in really cold temperatures
to get food and to get away from predators.
Very neat adaptation.
So I'm beside a mount, or three mounts,
of other animals that we have here in the Arctic Voices exhibit.
These are ptarmigans,
which belong in the quail or chicken family
and as you can see,
just like the arctic fox and also the lemmings,
they will change color in order to better camouflage themselves.
So they will change the different colors of their feathers,
and the feathers also help to keep them warm.
But one very neat adaptation with ptarmigans
is when you look at their feet,
especially in the wintertime,
because in between their toes,
they actually grow some extra feathers.
And those extra feathers actually help the ptarmigan
to be able to walk on snow.
So, essentially, these animals grow their own snowshoes
which they use to be able to move around on the Arctic surface.
Varying adaptation in the high North.
So this animal that I have right beside me is the arctic hare.
As you can tell, it's white.
Well camouflaged.
It uses its fur in order to survive the arctic winters.
They also have very large feet in order to be able to walk on the snow surface
and also to get around.
Now, unlike the arctic fox, the lemming, and the ptarmigan,
this guy actually doesn't change color.
In other words, he remains white throughout the year.
And he doesn't really need to camouflage themselves
because these guys are one of the fastest animals
that you will find in the Arctic tundra,
or the Arctic surface.
So they actually don't need to change color.
They stay white
and they can outrun any predator
that pretty much tries to go after them.
So it's really interesting to see how the strategies of one animal
will be different than other animals
that we find in the Arctic.
So not only are arctic animals adapted to living in the cold environments,
but arctic plants also.
Researchers from the Canada Museum of Nature
have documented over 800 species of plants
that live in the Arctic.
And they all share similar adaptations for dealing with the cold.
The white cottongrass has these hairy extensions at the end
that help to trap the sun's heat
in order that the plant remains warm.
Actually, many arctic plants have these little hairy extensions on the stem
and also leaves that help to trap heat.
The arctic poppy, on the other hand,
when you look at the flower,
it's actually in a saucer shape.
And this saucer shaped flower will actually help trap heat within in.
and not only does it trap heat in that fashion,
it will actually follow also the sun as it moves throughout the sky,
again, further trapping heat.
Another strategy that plants have
in order to escape the cold is not to be within it.
Many plants will grow right close to the soil surface,
because on the soil surface, it's warm.
But if you grow up,
the frigid Arctic air will actually cause the plants to freeze.
So, for example, arctic willows,
which is an actual tree,
will creep along the soil surface in order to grow.
And arctic willows that only a few centimeters long
can be hundreds and hundreds of years old.
So it's really interesting to see how arctic plants have adapted
to live in such frigid environments.
So I hope you learned some really neat things
about how terrestrial plants and animals
are adapted to living in such frigid environments.
If you want to learn more about some of the arctic lifeforms,
you're more that welcome to join us here at Science North
and visit our new exhibit, Arctic Voices.