Cushion growth
It’s not just animals
that need to wrap up
warm – plants do too.
Purple saxifrage has lots
of tiny, overlapping
leaves that completely
cover the short stems.
Become
an expert
8-9
The Arctic
56-57
Antarctica
170-171
Desert
regions
The polar bear.
Polar regions
159
One big cover up
Many polar animals have thick coats.
The snowy owl has feathers on its
body that grow long enough to cover
its legs and its bill.
A fine fur coat
The Arctic fox’s luxurious
fur even covers the soles of
its feet. This fox is dark in
the summer, and white in
the winter. In the summer it
is very busy, collecting and
storing food for the winter.
The snowy owl’s talons
are perfectly shaped for
gripping a lemming.
Purple saxifrage is one of the first Arctic plants
to flower when the snow melts in June.
Lemmings cope with the cold by staying in
tunnels below the snow, where they hunt for
plant roots to nibble. If they emerge, they may
well be caught by a passing snowy owl.
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Snowy
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