Could penguins and polar bears swap habitats?
Check out the live penguin splash cam at the Monterey Aquarium.
A listener asked, “Why aren’t there penguins up north in the Arctic, and polar bears near the south pole in Antarctica? Could penguins and polar bears swap places?”
They’re both cold, they’re both icy and they’re both surrounding a pole. But Earth’s Arctic and the Antarctic are very different kinds of places. Most of the Arctic is sea ice, connected to surrounding land masses. Brown bears from northern hemisphere forests probably walked into the Arctic long ago. Over the eons, they adapted to their snowy surroundings, to become white polar bears.
Antarctica, on the other hand, is a land mass surrounded by an ocean. Penguins couldn’t have walked into Antarctica. It’s thought that ancestors of today’s penguins could fly. They might have flown to Antarctica. Penguins wouldn’t fare very well transplanted to the Arctic. That’s because they have very special requirements for feeding and breeding. Also, in Antarctica, partly because there are no bears, you can walk right up to a penguin. All their natural predators come from the sea. So, penguins in the Arctic would be very vulnerable to predators.
On the other hand, if you transplanted polar bears to Antarctica, there might be some denning problems for the female bears. But polar bears might do extremely well feeding on Antarctic penguins and seals that have never known a predator on land.
Check out the live penguin splash cam at the Monterey Aquarium.
Penguin studies with Dr. Dee Boersma.
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Penguins evolved in the south and need rich waters. The tropics are a barrier for them and the north has ecological equilivants to penguins in puffins and other alcids. Polar bears likewise canīt cross the tropics, so they are limited to the north. Iīm in Argentina so hard to answer these.
Well the climate at the north pole is slightly different from the south.And it depends if they are warm blooded or cold. Cold Blooded animals live in hot climate and hot blood animals live in the cold climate. I’m not saying it’s as hot as the equator no way! But that is an example.
penguins are cold
It’s all about the food supply. The location of penguins is always near a drift that carries a good source of food. They are not found north of the equator. the Galapagos Penguin comes very close like in 6 degrees!
Thanxx a lot this REALLY helped me with my challenge project =)