Fun Facts
Amazing Arctic and Antarctic Projects You Can Build Yourself

• Penguins are excellent divers. They can dive down as deep as 1,800 feet! This is more than 6 times deeper than a champion human diver can go without special equipment.
• Polar bears’ skin is actually black, and their fur is transparent. They also have a fantastic sense of smell. They can smell a seal from 20 miles away!
• The auroras, or “night lights” in the North, are caused by atoms transferring energy and lighting up as they enter the Earth’s atmosphere.
• During the summer, the Arctic gets light from the sun all day and all night, even at midnight.
• You can get sunburned in Antarctica!
• The Arctic ice moves about 400 yards every hour.
• 85 percent of the world’s fresh water is frozen in the Arctic.
• The North Pole and South Pole can switch places and flip their magnetism.
• At certain times of the year at the Poles, people experience nights without darkness and days without light.
• Light bends around the poles of the Earth.
• The Arctic tundra covers over 5 million square miles.
• Antarctica has many active volcanoes, including Mount Erebus, which is 12,450 feet high.
• An Arctic hare can run up to 40 miles per hour when in danger!