Wildlife
The fascinating wildlife of Svalbard live in extreme conditions. The species have developed special adaptations to cope with the biting cold, periods with little access to food and the long, dark winter. Owing to the geographical location, there are few bird and mammal species. However, this is compensated by the fact that the species occur in large numbers.
Little access to food
The diversity of wildlife is greatest in summertime when the migratory birds return. The reindeer, Arctic fox, walrus, seal, rock ptarmigan and polar bear are hardy species that can be seen here year-round. The biggest challenge for the animals is finding enough food to survive and breed. The Svalbard reindeer and Svalbard rock ptarmigan are both herbivores. They spend the summer and autumn building up large reserves of body fat to ensure survival throughout the year. During the wintertime, the tundra is covered by ice and snow. This makes it difficult for them to find enough food, so they are forced to deplete stored fat until the snow melts in the summertime. The same applies to the Arctic fox. However, most bird species solve this problem by migrating south.
Polar bears
In Svalbard, the polar bear gained protection status in 1973 after many years of hunting and trapping. Since then, the population has slowly increased and there were about 1,900-3,600 polar bears in Svalbard during the last survey in 2004. The main habitat for polar bears is the sea ice, where they hunt for seals. An adult polar bear needs 50 to 75 seals per year to meet its energy needs.
Male polar bears weigh 300 to 600 kg, while females are considerably smaller and weigh 150 to 350 kg. Polar bears put on a lot of weight in the autumn but are often lean in the summer. Most polar bear cubs are born around New Year. They weigh just over 500 g at birth but quickly put on weight during the months in hibernation and by early April weigh up to 10 kg. April is an exceptional time for catching seals.
The Svalbard reindeer
The Svalbard reindeer is a distinctive subspecies of reindeer and is only found in Svalbard. Its short legs, neck and ears combined with its compact body mean the Svalbard reindeer is adapted to a long winter with extremely low temperatures. You can spot Svalbard reindeer in all areas not covered by glaciers. In the winter, the reindeer live on mountain ridges and plateaus with little snow cover, while in summer they graze in low lying areas. It’s not uncommon to spot Svalbard reindeer in Longyearbyen town centre year-round. They spend the summer and autumn building up large reserves of body fat to survive the long winter when food is harder to find.
Arctic fox
There is a large population of Arctic foxes in Svalbard and it’s common to spot them throughout the archipelago. The Arctic fox is not so different from the red fox, but it’s smaller and has thicker and denser winter fur. There are two distinctive colour variations in Svalbard: the white fox and the blue fox. A white fox is pure white in winter, but its summer coat is brown and yellowish-white. The blue fox is blueish grey throughout the year and is relatively rare. Arctic foxes are monogamous, and the same pair usually mate for life.
Walruses
The walrus is a seal species that gained protection status in 1952. After 350 years of sealing, the estimated population was reduced to a couple of hundred. The survey conducted in 2006 indicated that the walrus population in Svalbard was approx. 2,500.
Adult males are around 3.5 m long and weigh about 1,500 kg, while females are around 2.5 m long and weigh up to 900 kg. New-born seal pups are 1.3 m long and weighs approx. 85 kg. The characteristic tusks can be over 1 m long and weigh 5 kg.
The walrus is a social animal that lives in herds on land and in water. They lay close to one another and often on top of each other when resting.
Seals and whales
The ring seal is the smallest and most common seal species in Svalbard, with a population of roughly 100,000. The bearded seal is the largest seal species here in Svalbard after the walrus and is a common sight in shallow water.
The bowhead whale, white whale and narwhal are in the Arctic year-round, while other whale species migrate here in the summer. The most common of these to spot are the minke whale, fin whale, killer whale and humpback whale.
Birdlife
There are few bird species in Svalbard compared to locations further south. However, several of the species occur in extremely vast numbers. The migratory birds return in the summertime and the birdlife in the archipelago is teeming at that time. There are 3-4 million nesting seabirds in Svalbard, while the Brünnich’s guillemot alone breed in several places in colonies of around 100,000 pairs. The Svalbard rock ptarmigan is the only bird species in Svalbard during the winter.
One of Europe’s largest bird cliffs may be found here in Svalbard. In the summer, the manure from the bird droppings creates green and lush vegetation under the bird cliff. The birds fly down from the cliff to catch small fish and crustaceans in the sea to feed their young. You can often see herbivores like Svalbard reindeer and geese feeding in these lush areas.