Arctic Kingdom: Life at the Edge Page #3

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the ice fractures and begins

to split apart

Immense cracks open behind the

leading edge of the ice

These "leads" extend for miles

opening up new feeding areas

and hunting grounds

The Inuit are experts at navigating

the tricky ice fields of spring

It's a skill born of necessity

of the ancient

need to hunt on this

ever changing surface

Olyuk knows how to read the ice

Still

men and machines are sometimes lost

In the old days

entire hunting parties could

disappear without a trace

They are now sixty miles from home

They are hoping the trip will end

in a successful hunt

but it may take days

Not far away, one of the most

aggressive animals

in the Arctic hauls out to rest

adult walruses

heavily armored with tusks

and skin that is one inch thick

Their skulls are massive

and backed by a body weighing

one ton

they can bash through nine

inches of ice

Out of the water

their only enemies are polar bears

and human hunters

The walrus feed on vast beds of

clams buried 200 feet below

in the muddy sea floor

Each one can eat thousands of

clams in a single meal

And the mud harbors less obvious

but just as deadly predators

A carnivorous snail begins a slow

methodical attack

It smells the clam hiding in the mud

and tries to penetrate the tightly

closed shell

But the clam can defend itself

with a strong kick from

its single foot

Even stranger creatures patrol

the dark ooze

They thrive in the near freezing

waters of the Arctic feeding

on the remains of the dead

...and on each other

Overhead, the surface is warming up

Frozen salt water melts first

and from deep inside the ice

salty brine begins to drain away

Plumes of super cool

salty liquid spill downward out

of holes in the ice

freezing the waters just beneath

Hollow stalactites build up around

the draining brine

some reaching three feet in length

The waves continue to hammer

at the ice

and the edge gives way under

the relentless assault

Wind and strong currents push

ice floes together

Massive blocks pile up and

over each other

building miniature mountain ranges

In the wake of the shifting ice

giants come to fee

The bowhead whale is named

for its great curving jaw

A favorite target of whalers

it has never recovered from

two centuries of slaughter

Numbering only in the hundreds

bowheads in the eastern Arctic

make their last stand

Reaching 60 feet in length

it's the largest animal

in the Arctic seas

Yet the bowhead comes to

feed on the smallest

Energized by the touch of the sun

the depths now pulse with millions

of minute animals

They seem electrified

their transparent bodies glimmer

with iridescent light

More liquid than solid

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