Arctic Animals: List, Adaptations and Facts

Arctic animals are the mammals, birds and fish that live in or visit the cold lands and icy seas around the North Pole. Famous examples include the polar bear, Arctic fox, caribou, walrus, seals, belugas and the snowy owl. Each survives long, dark winters with special adaptations such as thick fur, blubber and white coats.

Arctic animals are a favourite example of how bodies fit a habitat. This list belongs to our main guide on animal species and their role in ecosystems, which explains how predators, grazers and scavengers keep nature in balance.

What is the Arctic and why is it hard to live there?

The Arctic is the region around the North Pole. It includes the Arctic Ocean and the northern edges of North America, Europe and Asia. Much of the land is Arctic tundra, a cold, mostly treeless plain above the Arctic Circle. Under it lies permafrost, ground that stays frozen all year. Our guide to tundra vegetation explains why only low plants grow there.

The sea is just as important. Large parts of the Arctic Ocean are covered by sea ice, which is frozen seawater floating on the surface. The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) tracks it by satellite. According to its average for 1981 to 2010, Arctic sea ice covers about 15.5 million square kilometres in late winter. It is typically 2 to 3 metres thick. Seals rest and give birth on this ice, and polar bears hunt across it.

Winter is long. In the central Brooks Range of Arctic Alaska, says the US National Park Service (NPS), deep cold and scarce food last for eight months each year. NSIDC adds that the North Pole has six months of darkness every year. Summer is short but busy, bringing millions of insects and lush new plant growth.

One common mix-up is worth clearing up here. NSIDC notes that polar bears do not live in Antarctica, and penguins do not live in the Arctic. So penguins are not Arctic animals, even though both regions are icy.

How do Arctic animals adapt to the cold?

An adaptation is a feature or behaviour that helps a living thing survive in its environment. The NPS describes two kinds. Physical adaptations change how an animal looks, such as a thick coat. Behavioural adaptations change how it acts, such as migrating south for winter.

The NPS groups the main Arctic adaptations like this:

1. Insulation. Extra insulation keeps body heat in, and the NPS gives the muskox as its example.
2. Camouflage. White colouring helps animals such as the Arctic fox blend in with snow. The snowshoe hare goes further: it turns white in winter and brown in summer.
3. Special feet. Wide hooves, large hind feet or feathered toes spread the animal’s weight on snow, spongy tundra and ice.
4. Migration. Many birds and whales arrive for the summer feast and leave before winter. Caribou also travel long distances between seasonal ranges.
5. Hibernation. Some animals sleep through the cold. Arctic ground squirrels hibernate for about eight months, according to the NPS.

Sea mammals have their own insulation called blubber, a thick layer of fat under the skin of whales, seals and walruses. Small body parts help too. Short ears and legs lose less heat than long ones, so many Arctic mammals look rounder than their southern relatives.

Arctic animals list: summary table

“Not stated” means none of the official pages used for this article gives a dated status. For how threat levels are judged, see our guide to IUCN Red List categories.

Which animals live on land in the Arctic?

1. Polar bear

The US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) calls the polar bear (Ursus maritimus) the largest of the living bear species. Surprisingly, it is classed as a marine mammal. USFWS estimated the world population at about 26,000 bears as of 2023. They live in 19 subpopulations across Canada, Greenland, Norway, Russia and the United States.

Polar bears are top predators of the Arctic marine ecosystem. USFWS says they prey heavily on ringed seals and, to a lesser extent, bearded seals. USFWS describes them as largely dependent on sea ice. They also breed slowly. A female usually gives birth to one to three cubs, most often twins, and the cubs stay with her until they are about 2 years old. Only pregnant females spend the winter in dens.

USFWS listed the polar bear as Threatened under the US Endangered Species Act on 15 May 2008. It is also protected by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Its global status on the IUCN Red List is a separate assessment; see our guide to vulnerable animal species.

2. Arctic fox

The Arctic fox is a small fox of the tundra and the sea ice. The NPS explains that its white winter fur hides it from predators such as polar bears and orcas. In summer the coat turns brownish grey to match the tundra.

Its hearing is remarkable. It can find a lemming under 4 to 5 inches (about 10 to 13 cm) of snow, then dive into the snow headfirst to grab it. Lemmings and tundra voles are its main food. When food is plentiful, it hides bird eggs among boulders or in its den for later. When food is scarce, it may follow a polar bear to eat the leftovers of its kill.

3. Caribou and reindeer

Caribou are members of the deer family; in Europe and Asia the same species is called reindeer. The NPS says caribou have two layers of insulating fur, and the hairs are hollow, which traps heat. Their wide hooves spread out like snowshoes on snow and soft tundra. They also act as paddles, and caribou can swim as fast as 6 miles (about 10 km) per hour.

Caribou feed on lichens and other low plants. They can travel up to 2,000 miles (about 3,200 km) a year between summer and winter ranges. The NPS notes that Alaska’s Western Arctic Caribou Herd has varied from as few as 75,000 to as many as 500,000 animals.

4. Muskox

The muskox is a shaggy, horned grazer of the open tundra. Its coat has two layers: long outer hair and a thick, woolly undercoat called qiviut. Muskoxen shed this underfur in summer.

Bulls fight for dominance by ramming heads. The NPS says a helmet-like horn 4 inches thick, plus another 3 inches of skull, protects the brain. When a predator threatens, the herd forms a line or a circle around the young, horns facing outward. In winter they choose windy hilltops where the snow is thin and lichen is easy to reach.

5. Lemming

Lemmings are small, round rodents of the tundra. They do not hibernate, and a deep layer of snow works like a blanket for them. In Gates of the Arctic National Park, the NPS says, voles and lemmings live in chambers tunnelled through the snow. There they stay active and fairly warm all winter, eating food stored in summer.

Lemmings are a key prey animal. Arctic foxes, snowy owls and other hunters depend on them, so their numbers affect much of the tundra food web.

6. Snowshoe hare

The NPS features the snowshoe hare among the wildlife of Alaska’s Arctic parklands. It says the hare’s fur is brown in summer and turns white in winter. Its hind feet are much larger than its front feet, so it can hop across soft snow without sinking. That is how it got its name.

7. Arctic ground squirrel

The Arctic ground squirrel survives winter by hibernating, or going into a deep, energy-saving sleep. The NPS says it hibernates for about eight months. During hibernation its body temperature can even fall below freezing, a state called supercooling.

Which Arctic animals live in the sea?

8. Walrus

In Alaska, walruses live in the Bering and Chukchi seas, where they haul out on sea ice and along the coasts of Russia and Alaska. The NPS describes the walrus and its torpedo-shaped body, which moves swiftly in water. It can swim up to 22 miles (about 35 km) per hour.

A layer of blubber up to 4 inches thick keeps it warm. To protect its core, blood moves away from the skin, which can make a walrus look pale. Its long tusks help it pull itself onto ice, break breathing holes and show dominance over other males.

9. Ringed seal

NOAA Fisheries calls the ringed seal the smallest and most common Arctic seal. It is named after the light rings on its dark back. Using stout claws on its front flippers, it keeps breathing holes open through ice 6 feet thick or more.

In late winter, females give birth inside snow lairs, small caves dug in snowdrifts on the ice. The lairs hide pups from predators. This matters, because ringed seals are the main prey of polar bears.

10. Bearded seal

The bearded seal is named after its long white whiskers. The NPS explains that it rests on ice floes with its head pointed towards the water, so it can slip away quickly if a predator comes. Its sensitive whiskers help it feel for food on the seabed. It sucks up shrimp, crabs and clams, and sometimes fish.

The NPS says four species of ice-associated seals live in the Bering, Chukchi and Beaufort seas of Arctic Alaska.

11. Beluga whale

The beluga is a white whale known for its many sounds and its social life. It lives in pods that hunt and travel together. The NPS says belugas shed their old, yellowed skin every summer by rubbing on gravel. The new skin is shiny white, which blends with sea ice.

A beluga’s neck bones are not fused, an uncommon trait among marine mammals, says the NPS. So it can turn its head to look for danger. It can also swim forwards, backwards and even upside down to escape.

12. Narwhal

NOAA Fisheries says the narwhal lives in the Arctic Ocean, mostly in its Atlantic sector, from central Canada to Greenland and eastern Russia. Adults look white with black mottling, and they lack a dorsal fin. A narwhal has two teeth in its upper jaw. In males, the left one usually grows forward through the front of the jaw into a tusk that spirals to the left.

NOAA says the tusk may grow up to 9.8 feet (about 3 m) long. Narwhals feed near the bottom in deep water, diving to 3,937 feet (about 1,200 m) for up to 25 minutes. They eat Arctic fish such as polar cod and turbot, plus squid and shrimp. Winter finds them in the pack ice, where they use cracks or holes in the ice.

13. Bowhead whale

NOAA Fisheries says the bowhead whale lives almost only in Arctic and subarctic waters with seasonal sea ice, mainly between 60° and 75° north. Its blubber is 17 to 19 inches thick, thicker than that of any other whale. Its huge, bow-shaped skull can break through sea ice 8 inches thick.

Bowheads are baleen whales: they strain tiny animals such as krill and copepods from the water. They may live for over 100 years, and some studies suggest more than 200. Commercial whaling cut their world numbers to fewer than 3,000 by the 1920s. The United States listed them as Endangered under the Endangered Species Act in 1973. Based on 2019 surveys, NOAA estimates about 15,229 whales in the Western Arctic stock, which has recovered well.

Which birds live in the Arctic?

Most Arctic birds are summer visitors. Many species arrive in spring to nest on the tundra and feed their chicks on insects. Only a few species stay all winter.

14. Snowy owl

Lemmings are among the prey of the snowy owl. The NPS describes it as a large, powerful owl of the high Arctic tundra, coloured for camouflage during northern winters. Read more about it in our list of famous bird species around the world.

15. Willow ptarmigan

Ptarmigan are Arctic grouse that stay all winter. The NPS says the willow ptarmigan is the largest of the three ptarmigan species found in Alaska; the others are the rock and white-tailed ptarmigan. Their feathered feet work like snowshoes on powdery snow. They also dive or burrow into the snow, which shelters them from the far colder air above.

16. Arctic tern

The Arctic tern is a small seabird that nests in the Arctic in summer. The NPS says it makes the longest migration of any bird, flying between the high Arctic and the Antarctic. Its distances are explained in our guide to migratory birds and why they migrate.

Why are Arctic animals important?

Arctic animals link the land, the sea and the people of the far north. They are important for several reasons.

• Food webs. Tiny sea animals feed seals and whales. Seals feed polar bears, whose leftovers feed Arctic foxes. On land, lemmings support foxes and owls.
• Seasonal visitors. The NPS says many birds fly in from all major continents to reach the rich Arctic food supply. Whales also move north when the ice clears to feed on plankton.
• People. Bowhead whales have been hunted by Indigenous peoples for food and fuel for at least 2,000 years, according to NOAA. Today Alaska Native whalers and NOAA manage this hunt together.
• Climate signals. Because many Arctic animals depend on ice and snow, changes in their numbers show how fast the region is warming.

Some of them may act as keystone species, with effects far larger than their numbers suggest. See our explainer on keystone species and their examples.

How does melting sea ice threaten Arctic animals?

A major threat is the loss of sea ice. Since 2007, NSIDC reports, the Arctic minimum ice extent, usually reached in September, has been only 3.5 to 5 million square kilometres. NSIDC’s satellite records since 1979 show a fall of about 13 percent per decade. NSIDC adds that summer ice has also become thinner.

Loss of ice harms animals in several ways:

• Polar bears lose the platform they use to hunt seals. USFWS describes them as largely dependent on sea ice.
• Ringed seals need ice and snow cover for their birth lairs. NOAA says they are threatened by the shrinking extent and duration of sea ice and snow.
• Walruses and bearded seals rest on floating ice. With less ice, they have fewer safe places to haul out.
• Bowhead whales face new risks from ships. NOAA warns that as ice retreats, more vessels enter Arctic waters, raising the danger of collisions.

Less ice also opens the Arctic to oil and gas work and shipping. NOAA lists oil spills among the risks to ringed seals, and underwater noise among the threats to bowhead whales.