Caribou colonise tundra and subpolar forest in northern Canada, Russia and Europe, although in Europe and Asia they're known as reindeer. (I use the word 'caribou' because it sounds more sophisticated and less like a little kid at Christmas.) They enjoy the long Arctic summer and, in winter, migrate as many as 600km southwards to the pine forests. Although they live here for half a year, they don't actually eat pine needles (except maybe young and tender ones) because they can't digest them, so they feed on bark and fungus on the pine trees.
Grey wolves hunt caribou and in fact they normally have quite a good chance of catching them, despite their comparative sizes, because their paws are adapted to run across the top of a snowdrift while a heavy caribou would sink in and be slowed down. Grey wolves are the largest of wolves because being larger makes it easier to conserve heat, which is why polar bears are so huge as well. Like all wolves they are quite intelligent, effective hunters and with complex family life.
Great grey owls have excellent hearing and can hear the minute sounds that a lemming makes in its burrows under the snow. You would have a hard time seeing a lemming which is why wolves rely on smell and owls on hearing. A great grey owl has a face shaped like a satellite dish with stiff feathers on the outside, directing all the sound towards its ears. It turns its head to ascertain the location of the lemming before swooping down and pouncing.There! A load of facts that you really needed to know about Arctic animals. My new story will be about those animals and the tribes of Northern people who rely on them. There is a boy whose name is Grey. I'm quite excited about his character and will post a drawing of him when I've done one.
I'm very sorry: this post was utterly pointless.
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