Antarctica Facts For Kids

Our Antarctica facts for kids will give you lots of amazing and interesting facts about Antarctica.

Antarctica is often called “The Frozen Continent”. It means, there are no countriesin Antarctica continent.

Antarctica is the southernmost continent and it is the coldest, driest, windiest continent of the world. In terms of total area, Antarctica is the fifth largest continent of the world. The total area of Antarctica is 5,100,100 Sq miles.

Below are our collection of interesting facts about Antarctica. Maybe some of them you will already know but some Antarctica facts will definitely surprise you. So let’s start the amazing journey of continent Antarctica.

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Antarctica Map By Worldatlas.Com

FACT #1. Although Antarctica is the emptiest continent of the world as there is no native population and countries,there are seven countries that claim different parts of this continent. There countries are – Argentina, New Zealand, Norway, France, the United Kingdom, Chile, and Australia.

FACT #2.  Before 1840, Antarctica was also known as ‘Terra Australis Incognita’. This is a latin word which means – the unknown land of the south.

FACT #3.  Since Antarctica continent is almost covered by ice, the continent is also known as white continent.

FACT #4.  This is one of the interesting Antarctica facts that there are mainly two seasons – winter and summer. In summer there is six months of daylight and in winter six month of darkness.

FACT #5.  As per NASA, in winter the average temperature in Antarctica is – 34.4 Celsius (minus 30 degrees Fahrenheit).

FACT #6.  The lowest temperature recorded in Antarctica was -89.4 C (minus 129 F) on 23 June 1982.

FACT #7.  The highest temperature recorded in Antarctica was 15 C (59 F) on 5 June 1974.

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Mount Vinson, Antarctica (source-Wikipedia)

FACT #8.  With an elevation of 16,066 feet (4,897 meters), Mount Vinson is known as the highest mountain of Antarctica.

FACT #9.  Antartica continent also plays a vital role in protecting earth from global warming. Ice is known as more reflective than land or water surfaces. Since Antarctica is covered by ice, large amounts of solar radiation reflects away from Earth’s surface.

FACT #10.  When we talk about fresh water, about 70 percent of the planet’s freshwater water is located in Antarctica, and around 90% of the ice on Earth is found in Antarctica.

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Lake Vostok, Antarctica (source:Atlas Obscura)

FACT #11.  Lake Vostok, one of the world’s largest lakes, is located in Antarctica . Lake Vostok is roughly the size of North America’s Lake Ontario, but it is not a lake for sailing boats.

It lies 4 kilometers (2 miles) below the continental ice sheet. Its waters have been sealed from air and light under the tremendous pressure of the continental ice sheet for perhaps as long as 35 million years.

FACT #12.  Emilio Marcos Palma was the first documented person born in January 7, 1978 on the continent of Antarctica.

FACT #13.  Mount Erebus is the most active volcano in Antarctica and second highest volcano after Mount Sidley. Also to mention that Mount Sidley is the highest dormant volcano in Antarctica.

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Emilio Marcos Palma, The First Antarctican, born in January 7, 1978 (Image source: Sbrhsbreeze.org)

FACT #14.  The Antarctic Treaty and related agreements, collectively known as the Antarctic Treaty System (ATS).

FACT #15.  Continent with No Time Zone : Antarctica is a continent where there is no timezone.

Research stations follow either the time zone of the country that operates or supplies them, or use the local time of countries located nearby.

For example, Chile is the nearest country of American research station,Palmer Station, therefore it uses Chile Summer Time (CLST) .

FACT #16.  In Antartica, the level of precipitation is very low. That is why Antarctica is classified as a cold desert or icy desert. To clarify more,the term precipitation refers to all forms in which water falls from the atmosphere to Earth.

Paul Walker and his beloved huskies from Eight Below via Google

FACT #17.  Antartica Animal: Due to harsh environment and limited food sources, there are only a few animals that live in Antarctica. Whales, seals, penguins and other birds are the most common animals in the Antarctic.

FACT #18.  Emperor penguins are highly adapted to cold environments and are only penguin species that breed on Antarctica.

FACT #19.  Antarctica is the best place in the world to find meteorites. Do you know why? Because dark meteorites are perfectly visible in the snow and are not even covered by plants.

FACT #20.  One of the coolest Antarctica facts – Walt Disney’s “Eight Below” is set in the extreme wilderness of Antarctica but was filmed in Canada, Greenland and Norway. Also, Happy Feet’s penguins entered the scene as the first computer-animated film entirely set on Antarctica.

Antarctica Animals Facts

Despite the extremely cold conditions, Antarctica is a home to many marine animals. Antarctic animals have adapted to reduce heat loss, often developing warm windproof or waterproof coats and thick fat (or blubber) layers.

Below are some amazing and interesting facts about Antarctica animals. 

FACT #1. The frozen continent is home to 17 types of penguins, encluding Emperor penguin, Gentoo penguin, Adelie penguin, Chinstrap penguin. The Emperor Penguin is the largest penguin. It lives on ice packs in Antarctica.

FACT #2. Antarctic Seals are the only large mammals on the continent. Among the types of seals are: Southern elephant seal, Crabeater seal, Antarctic fur seal, Leopard seal, Ross seal, Weddell seal. 

FACT #3.  Elephant seals are the largest of all seals in Antarctica. The weight of a male elephant can range from 1,500 kg to 3,700 kg, while the female is quite small, between 600 kg and 800 kg.

FACT #4.  Snow petrels are considered as the most beautiful of all the Antarctic birds because of its appearence. Snow petrels are pure white birds with jet black beaks and eyes.

FACT #5.  Ice fish, also called a white fish because their blood is transparent.

FACT #6.  Gentoo penguin is the fastest species of penguin, which can swim up to 35 km/h (22 mph).

Apart from these Antarctica’ animals, there are so few more animals in Antarctica such as Krill, Whale, Salps, Seabed, Squid etc.

If you are interested to learn more anout Antarctica animals, the visit here. Hope you enjoyed Antarctica facts for kids as well as Antarctica animals. 

Reference site for more about Lake Vostok – Visit here

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