Learn about the animals in Greenland

Greenland is the world’s largest island and with a very exiting wildlife located in the Arctic. All the interesting species in the island have all adapted to the Arctic climate both on land and at sea.

The animals on land
The largest and most significant animal predator on land is the polar bear. The polar bear is white and almost the essence of the wildlife in Greenland. Sometimes it can be challenging to find the white polar bear in the Arctic, because of its contrast to the ice.

Greenland also contains more instinctive animals like the musk ox and the reindeer. The unique musk ox looks like a big, brown rock from distance. The musk ox is the largest land mammal in Greenland. The reindeer has been living in the Arctic’s areas for more than thousands of years and have been an important prey for hunters.

Greenland also has a lot of different bird species, actually 60 species of bird breed. One special bird is the white-tailed eagle, which is absolutely breath taken because of its large size. Furthermore there are plenty of small land mammals, like arctic foxes, mountain hares and wolves. These animals are rare seen close to buildings and cities.

The animals at sea
The whales are everywhere in Greenland and can easily be seen in the water as well. The animal there is to see in the frequent Greenlandic waters is the narwhal, walrus, fin whales, humpback whales and minke whales. You can also experience species like bowhead whale, blue whale and sperm whale, which also comes across the Greenlandic waters sometime.

There are around 15 different species of whales visiting the Greenlandic waters. These different species mostly visits around the summer and not the winter, which mean there are not many whales doing the winter. Actually, the only whales who also stays doing the winter is the killer whale and the blue whale, which is rarely seen.

In the Greenlandic waters are all of the whales regardless their ages jumping up from the water showing their big tails and flippers. The acrobat in the whale family is the humpback whale, even though it weighs around 30 tonnes and is 18 metres long.