Polar bear
Ursus maritimus
- Size
- Up to 2.5m long: the biggest bear
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Sea ice and coasts all round the Arctic
A huge, cream-white bear with a long neck and small ears, at home on the sea ice.
The polar bear that follows you
This page is the Arctic tundra. Move your pointer across the snow and your animal will pad, trot, glide or shuffle after you. Choose a different animal at the bottom, and tap the notes to open them.
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01 · SkinBlack under the white
A polar bear's skin is black, and its hairs are see-through and hollow. They only look white.
02 · NoseA nose for seals
It can smell a seal from more than a kilometre away, even one hidden under snow.
03 · SwimA sea bear
Polar bears can swim for days. Their Latin name means bear of the sea.
04 · FoodSeal hunters
They wait by a seal's breathing hole in the ice, sometimes for hours, without moving.
05 · CubsBorn in a snow den
Cubs are born in midwinter in a den dug into a snowdrift. They weigh about as much as a guinea pig.
06 · FeetSnowshoes
The paws are as wide as dinner plates, with rough pads and fur between the toes for grip.
Meet them all
Who's who in the Arctic
Arctic fox
Vulpes lagopus
- Size
- Body about 55cm, plus a bushy tail
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Tundra and sea ice across the Arctic
A small, round fox with short ears and a very thick coat: white in winter, grey-brown in summer.
Snowy owl
Bubo scandiacus
- Size
- Wingspan about 1.5m
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Open tundra all round the Arctic
A big white owl with yellow eyes. Males are almost pure white, and females have dark bars.
Reindeer
Rangifer tarandus
- Size
- About 1.2m at the shoulder
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Tundra and northern forest across the Arctic. Called caribou in North America
A sturdy grey-brown deer with a pale neck. Both males and females grow antlers.
Walrus
Odobenus rosmarus
- Size
- Up to 3.5m long and over a tonne
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Shallow Arctic seas, hauling out on ice and beaches
A huge, wrinkled, cinnamon-brown seal with long white tusks and a bristly moustache.
Arctic hare
Lepus arcticus
- Size
- About 60cm long
- Look for it
- All year round
- Where
- Tundra in Greenland and Arctic Canada
A big hare that is white all over in the far north, apart from black tips to its ears.
Through the year
When to look for them
Arctic animals are there all year, but the long dark winter makes them hard to see. The green months are the best time to look. The animal following you is shown in red.
Polar bear
Arctic fox
Snowy owl
Reindeer
Walrus
Arctic hare
Good to know
Six things about the Arctic
An ocean, not a land
There is no land at the North Pole. It is sea ice floating on the Arctic Ocean, a few metres thick.
Midnight sun
In midsummer the sun stays up all night. In midwinter it does not rise at all for weeks.
Frozen ground
Tundra soil is frozen solid just below the surface all year. It is called permafrost, and trees cannot root in it.
White in winter
Many Arctic animals turn white for winter, so they are hard to see against snow.
Fur and fat
Thick fur, small ears and a layer of fat called blubber keep the heat in.
A warming place
The Arctic is warming faster than anywhere else on Earth, and the summer sea ice is shrinking.
Photo gallery
Real photos of the animals on this page. Tap one to see it bigger.
Polar bear
Arctic fox
Snowy owl
Reindeer
Walrus
Arctic hare
Photos are from Wikimedia Commons and are used under free licences. They have been resized, and cropped where they appear in link previews. Open a photo to see who took it.
The top of the world
The Arctic is a frozen ocean with land round its edge. In summer the sun never sets, and in winter it never rises. Everything that lives here is built to keep warm.
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