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Animals of the Antarctic

Many people mistakenly view the Antarctic as mainly an ice continent. Our seventh continent is actually home to a wide variety of interesting life. Visit some great Web sites and become a polar expert.

Open the Virtual Antarctica science page at http://www.terraquest.com/va/science/science.html. Answer these questions on marine life in the Antarctic:

• What is the most important part of the Antarctic food web?
  
  
• How many species of Antarctic fish are there?

• The Arctic seas are very cold. What is one way that the fish have adapted to their environment?
  
  
  
• Most people know that penguins live in the Antarctic. What other birds live there?
  
  
  
• Seals are another large group of Antarctic inhabitants. Why are these marine animals protected?
  
  
  
• Several types of whales can be found in the Antarctic waters. Name three of them.
  
  
  

Reread the information carefully and check your answers.

Now go to Antarctic Weather Information at http://www.antdiv.gov.au/search/index.html.

What is the weather like in Antarctica today?


Print out one of the plots of weather information from the weather data archives. Explain one thing you can learn from the graph you chose.

Animals in every environment make adaptations to survive weather conditions. Write down everything you believe you would need to do to protect your body if you were in that climate.