Tundra Animals Interesting Facts
Notable animals in the alpine tundra include Kea parrots marmots mountain goats sheep elk and pika.
Tundra animals interesting facts. When the snow melts the tough grasses mosses and small shrubs have a short quick growing season. Their feathers are all white and their bills are black. Every animal must adapt in order to survive.
Tundras cover a fifth of the Earths surface. The Tundra is the worlds youngest biome. The difference between the Arctic and Alpine tundra is that the soil in the Alpine tundra region is not permanently frosted.
The tundra is a very fragile biome that is shrinking as the permafrost melts. Its feathers are white though sometimes its head and neck feathers become slightly red if it is in an area of iron-rich food. It has black legs feet and beak and close to its eyes there is a distinctive yellow mark.
The fauna in the tundra region mainly includes animals like polar bears arctic fox snowy owl musk ox reindeer Dall sheep and penguins. Its not a place where you see dolphins kangaroo cats pelicans or hummingbirds. When snow covers the ground many animals move to.
The animal populations of the tundra biome can fluctuate greatly over the course of a year. The tundra biome is the driest place on Earth. The word tundra comes from a Finnish word tunturi which means treeless plain or barren land.
Animals in the tundra are also adapted to extreme conditions and they take advantage of the temporary explosion of plant and insect life in the short growing season. Tundra wildlife includes small mammalssuch as Norway lemmings Lemmus lemmus arctic hares Lepis arcticus and arctic ground squirrels Spermophilus parryii and large mammals such as caribou Rangifer tarandus. Individuals in some regions have a large yellow section at the base of their bills some have just a single spot of yellow and others have no yellow at all.