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What is a tundra? |
Land Features
There are many words that describe the different environments of our planet. When you hear the word desert, you usually think of a place that’s hot and dry, without many plants. When you hear rainforest, you think of a warm, rainy place with lots of plants and trees.
The word tundra is used to talk about special areas of land that are unlike any others on Earth. The first thing you’ll notice about a tundra is that there are almost no trees. This is because the tundra ground is usually very cold. It’s so cold, in fact, that sometimes the soil is permanently frozen. The very top of the soil may be melted by the Sun, so small plants and mosses can grow, but big plants, like trees, have a very hard time! That’s because their roots need to dig deep to get nutrients, but they can’t when the ground is frozen.
Tundra ground is also usually very flat, though sometimes there are small hills. Not many animals can survive in the tundra, but some, like the caribou, arctic fox, and polar bear, are adapted specially to live in this cold environment.
Adapting to the Cold
Polar bears can survive in the cold tundra environment because they have a lot of extra fat that traps heat inside their bodies. People aren’t really built for life in the Arctic tundra, but can you think of the ways that we cope with very cold weather?
Where you live, does it get very cold in the winter? How do you dress when it gets very cold? Do you wear shorts and t-shirts? Do you wear heavy pants and coats? What about scarves and mittens?
How are your summer clothes different than your winter clothes? And why is it important that they are different?
