Test your knowledge #2

1. Temperatures in Antarctica are heating up twice as fast as the global average.

2. In prehistoric times there was a species of penguin over 6 feet tall.

3. Seals' lungs collapse on dives over 100 feet in depth.

4. 70% of the world's fresh water is found in Antarctica.

5. Antarctica is a desert.

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Answers

1. False. Temperatures in Antarctica are increasing at 5 times the global average. It is one of three places that are warming fastest on the planet.

 2. True. In prehistoric times a penguin existed that was over 6 feet tall. The tallest penguin today is the Emperor Penguin that reaches 4-and-half to 5 feet.

3. True. Weddell seals can dive over 1800 feet deep. (The maximum for a human recreational diver is 130 feet.) The seals lungs collapse and their heart beats slow from about 75 beats to 20 beats per minute. (If you want to see the difference, try making a heart sound--one per second (or more): ba-bum, ba-bum for 12 seconds. Then try the slow beat: one sound each four seconds for 12 seconds.)

 4. True. If the glaciers in Antarctica melted completely, the Golden Gate Bridge would be underwater.

5. True. Antarctica is the highest, driest, coldest, windiest place on earth. Average rain and snowfall is less than 2" per year, qualifying it as a desert.