Polar Facts: What’s a Tundra Again?

There’s some old social studies class where you probably learned this once, but it’s been a while. At least it has for us! So a quick recap of where our polar bears are roaming on the live cam.

There are 5 major biomes (sort of like climate zones) in the world: aquatic, desert, forest, grassland and – tundra! Some of the characteristics of tundras include very cold temperatures, a short growing season and little rain. Polar bears live in the arctic tundra, as opposed to the alpine tundra. (More at Berkeley.)

Fast Fact: Tundra comes from the Finnish word tunturia, meaning treeless plain.

Visit last seasons photo albums to see more incredible photos like the one above.