Athropolis HOME   |   Maps   |   Arctic Links   |   Arctic Library

Click to go HOME
From our library of things you should know about the Arctic

Click for more information.

Arctic Ponies in Siberia

Some think that the Yakut horse is related to a creature that existed before the last ice age, roaming with prehistoric mammals like the mammoth and woolly rhinoceros.

The horse gradually evolved into the three types found today: the northern original, the smaller southern type and the larger southern type.

The horses are well suited to the severe Arctic conditions and can withstand temperatures as low as -60°F / -50°C.

  • Their manes and tail are thick and long.
  • They are smaller than most other horses, so they lose less body heat.
  • They have very thick skin and in winter they grow a dense covering of hair.
  • Their hooves are very strong so they can scrape away deep snow while looking for food.
  • They can store reserves of fat during the summer when food is plentiful. The fat acts as both insulation against the cold and as a source of energy to draw on during winter.
These hardy horses require no shelter, even though they live in the coldest climate in the Northern Hemisphere. They fend for themselves during the long and bitter Siberian winters eating a wide variety of plants and grasses that hide beneath the snow.

The Antarctic explorer, Robert Falcon Scott, used Yakut ponies on his doomed expedition to the south pole in 1910. None survived (nor did Scott) - some died while pulling sledges, and others became killer whale lunch when they were trapped on an ice-floe.

MORE...
Click pictures for more information and credits.
Library: Animals, Snow, Ice, Arctic
Links: Animals, Ice Age, Arctic
Arctic Maps & Weather Reports


Double-click any unlinked word DICTIONARY: Just "double-click" any unlinked word on this page for the definition from Merriam-Webster's Student Electronic Dictionary at Word Central.
Arctic Library ARCTIC LIBRARY & GLOSSARY: Check this section for an index of the rest of the things you really need to know about the Arctic.
All sorts of Arctic Maps ARCTIC MAPS & WEATHER REPORTS: Maps of the Northwest Passage, explorers' routes, iceberg sources, Nunavut, the Arctic by treeline, temperature...
Links to related sites. ARCTIC LINKS: Even more information! Links to sites related to the Arctic and "Iceberg: the Story of the Throps and the Squallhoots".
A Guide to Arctic Sunrise and Sunset GUIDE TO ARCTIC SUNRISE & SUNSET: How much sunlight or darkness is there in the Arctic on each day of the year?
Icy Cold Jokes | Icy Games | Athropolis HOME
Copyright © 2005 Athropolis Productions Limited. The content of web sites that this site has links
to is the property of their respective owners, and Athropolis is not responsible for their content.