Mason

Q. WHAT TYPES OF TRANSPORT ARE USED IN ANTARCTICA? There are many types of transport that are used in Antarctica including: ski doos, zodiac IRBS (Inflatable Rubber Boats), ice breakers, helicopters, light propeller aeroplane, quad bikes, huskies and Hagglunds. Ice breakers are an example of arctic and Antarctic vehicle specialisation. Normal ships can’t go to the Antarctic because they can’t go through the ice as that will open up the hull and make them sink. A famous example of this is the Titanic. The first use of “ice breaking technology” was in the 17th century and was used by Russians. A “Koch” is a type of ice breaker boat and is very useful for exploration and finding resources. media type="custom" key="19357888"

Q. WHY ARE THERE NO POLAR BEARS IN ANTARCTICA? There are simply no polar bears In Antarctica because of the lack of food sources. Their main diet consists of seals, walruses, narwhals, bowhead whales and beluga whale carcases. Many of these animals are migratory animals, meaning that they only come to Antarctica in the summer. This would be a problem for the polar bears because there is no food in the winter and polar bears don’t technically hibernate so they might not survive the winter. Scientists have thought that you could move some polar bears to Antarctica but they say that the risk outweighs the reward.

Q. WHY CANT PENGUINS FLY? Penguins can’t fly but this isn’t a problem as there is no reason for them to fly since all their food is in the water. They have evolved to be able to swim fast so they can catch fast swimming fish. If there was a need to fly, they might have evolved with bigger wings but these wings would slow them down due to more drag which is not ideal for swimming.

Q.HOW ARE ICEBERGS FORMED? They are formed when snow falls into a pile and over hundreds of thousands of years it compacts and becomes hard and then is formed into ice. When they fall off they are then called icebergs. Sometimes icebergs are formed when glaciers meet the sea and have no more land to support them and they fall off. Usually these ones are the biggest.

Q. HOW DID IT FORM? Millions of years ago the world was formed into one big land mass and this was called Pangaea which came from the Greek word PAN which means entire and GAIA meaning Earth. Antarctica was wedged between Australia, India and Africa but Antarctica looked nothing like it did then. It was much warmer and most of Pangaea was a desert. Later the continents moved apart and this was called Gondwana. The places that were part of this “super continent” were Africa, South America, Australia, Arabia, Antarctica and Balkans which is part of Europe.