Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 12/23/2009 - 17:32
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Dissolved Organic Matter in Antarctica

You had a picture of penguin tracks on one of your journal entrees. Why is it that penguins live in the south and polar bears in the north?

Sat, 12/26/2009 - 17:56

Sarah Diers

Hmmm, this is a difficult question to answer...These days it all comes down to geography- for a polar bear to get to Antarctica it would need to cross over the equator and vice versa for the penguin. The climate at the equator and the water temperature is too hot for both penguins and polar bears to survive within. Theoretically, if polar bears were sent to the Antarctic they could survive, the climate is acceptable, and there are abundant food resources. The same could not be said for penguins if they were sent to the Arctic. There are more predators in the Arctic, including polar bears and fox, both of which would love to snack on the penguins.There are reports of commercial fishers of the Northern Seas pulling up penguins in their nets and pots, but this is very rare and most likely occurs when a penguin become disoriented in a storm or unusual ocean currents.Thanks for the challenging question. Keep cool, Sarah