Mammals live in all different sorts of terrains. One of which that you might not hear of, is in Antarctica. A very cold place located in the Northern Pole of Earth.
Most of the animals in this region either have thick fur that acts as an insulator so that these animals do not freeze to death.
All of the mammals mentioned in this article will be warm-blooded animals because they would not be able to survive the extreme temperatures if they are cold-blooded animals.
Besides their characteristics of thick fur, mammals of Antarctica also eat meat in large amounts. This makes them all carnivorous animals because plants are not capable to survive in extremely cold weather.
As a result, these animals will grow a thick layer of fat from all the meat that they have consumed. This thick layer of fat functions to insulate the heat and keep these animals warm.
- Antarctic fur seal
Despite the climate change and global warming that is happening all around the world, this animal can handle it all. The devastating effects of climate change take place mostly in Antarctica.
As a result, this has pushed animals such as the antarctic fur seal to adapt to a warmer place. Different from other seals, this unique seal has a thick layer of fur to cover its body. The colors of the fur would vary from males to female.
The male would have dark brown hair, and the female would have a light gray color. Like other aquatic mammals, this animal is one of the longest-living animals with a life span of 20 years.
- Elephant seals
The name says it all about this 3 tonnes beast. Could you imagine a seal with 3 tonnes of bodyweight gliding through the ice? Well, this animal has the superpower to endure cold weather.
Its carnivorous trait has also pushed it to consume more meat and fat. Over time, the fat would build up and protect these elephant seals from the cold weather.
Besides their heavyweight, they are named as elephant seals because they have a similar physical attribute to an elephant. An elephant seal has a trunk-like nose that is inflatable.
- Polar bear
The one and only maritime mammal that is also known to be the largest carnivorous animal that lives on land happens to live in the North Pole.
Unlike other bears, the polar bear does not eat honey for their diet. Instead, the polar bears depend on the ocean or sea for their main source of food.
These animals feed on seals and fishes. With their excellent sense of smell, they can detect food from almost 2 kilometers away.
Once it has detected its food, it would run for it and reach a top speed of 40 km/h. Not bad, but it could be considered as a fastest land animal.
At a glance, this animal may seem like it has a white colored fur. Well, the polar bears have transparent furs. The fur gets the white color from all the snow surrounding it.
- Sei whale
Native to Antarctica and nowhere else, the sei whale is a deep-sea creature that lives in the deep offshore waters. An adult sei whale could weigh over 18 tons and eat almost 1 ton of food every day.
The whale would suck in food into its baleen. This organ acts as a filtration system for food. The water would be excreted again, and the food would be consumed.
The sei whale’s diets mainly consist of copepods, zooplankton, phytoplanktons and more small creatures of the ocean. Unlike other fishes, the whale is a polygamous animals fish that can give birth instead of laying eggs.
- Hourglass dolphin
Looking alike to an orca or a killer whale, the hourglass dolphin is a rare species of dolphins. Due to overfishing, this dolphin had depleted in population.
That is why there is a conservation for hourglass dolphins that is located in the Pacific Island Region.Moreover, these dolphins are social and intelligent animals.
Hence, they would travel or hunt in groups of 10 dolphins. When they have found a feeding ground, they would share the food with one another.
- Spectacled porpoise
Another rare species of Antarctic animals is a spectacled porpoise. This animal is in the same family as dolphins. The difference of porpoise and a dolphin is that porpoises have shorter beaks, while dolphins have elongated beaks.
One other difference is located in the back of the porpoise. While porpoise has a triangulated shape fin, the dolphins have a hooked shape fin.
Nonetheless, the porpoise is a cute and adorable animal as it seems to naturally smile.
- Walrus
Last but not least, are animals that have elongated tusks attached to their mouth. Walruses are unique animals due to the tusk or teeth that could reach a length of almost 1 meter.
These tusks aren’t for chewing food, but instead, they symbolize power and pride amongst other walruses. The longer and bigger a tusk is, the more respect is shown by other walruses.
Sometimes, these walruses would even use their tusk as a grappling hook. And in order to get to land, they would swing their heads onto the ice and pull 1 ton of bodyweight-only using their tusks.
To learn more about fishes, check our latest article on gigantic freshwater fishes too!