Amazing Arctic Animals

Kids often give me inspiration to learn more, today is no exception. While at the Chemung River for the last time this Fall with the 4th graders from Beecher Elementary, one young man relayed his story of discovery of a giant grasshopper in his backyard. He said it was an Arctic Grasshopper...? That is not something I am famililar with, so I just said, "oh really, here in Chemung County?" and he said, "Yes." So, I came back, turned my computer on and did a search... Guess what? No Arctic Grasshopper. There are grasshoppers up there though. There are a lot of interesting Arctic animals in fact.

I came upon the Arctic Tern and I remembered from my college ornithology days that they were the birds that migrated the longest distance, but I didn't remember how long. They travel from the Arctic tundra (within the Arctic Circle), where they nest, to the edge of the Antarctic ice pack during the winter. This journey totals over 21,750 miles each year - roughly the circumference of the Earth! That is a lot of flying for a bird that weighs less than a pound and is little over 12 inches long.

Although I didn't find any information about the Arctic Grasshopper, I did read how Arctic insects (and other insects) avoid freezing. They can tolerate temperatures below 0 degrees F because they have antifreeze proteins (APF's) that intefere with water freezing on them and in their hemolymph (insect blood). No shivering since they don't thermoregulate like we do, but antifreeze- cool!

I know the Arctic is pretty far away from this area, but we should sometimes try and learn about life on all Earth, not just in our backyard.