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The Arctic Tern (Sterna Paradisaea) inhabits large and small bodies of water along ocean coastlines. The fifteen and one-half inches long bird is very determined, migrating from the North Pole to the South Pole and back again. Every year this bird flies 22,000 miles while migrating. Each day it flies approximately 150 miles, in turn flying around the world in twenty weeks. 

One unusual trait of the tern is that it enjoys total sunlight for most of their year. Its migrational pattern allows it to arrive at each of the poles in time to enjoy the summer days with 24 hour sunlight. During its four months of migration it also lives mostly in sunlight. Part of the reason the tern enjoys its sunlight is for hunting purposes. Since the bird is rather small and constantly flying it needs as much daylight as possible to hunt for food. The extra daylight also allows the bird to store up body fat for its flight.

The tern is also peculiar because mates will bump each other off the nest in order to help incubate the eggs. The males will also help with feeding their young. The tern nests as far south as Massachusetts and the New England region and as far north as seven degrees from the North Pole. Their nests are made in holes in gravel sand or rocks. They will use a few building materials around the nest to contain the two to three brownish or greenish spotted eggs. The terns are not solitary birds and often form colonies during breeding season. Other species often join the colonies, such as gulls. They do not, however, allow Herring Gulls into the colony because these larger birds prey upon the eggs and young chicks.

Fishermen are often friends of the tern. They can watch the terns as they are feeding on minnows and through their nets in that area in order to catch the larger fish that prey on the minnows. The tern catches its food while it skims along the ocean and using its telescopic eyes, it will pick out the minnows breaking the surface. It dives down and snatches them up in its bill with as little of its body in the water as possible. Even in foggy weather, the tern will fish. Once finished feeding, it heads toward land with an unaffected sense of direction.

The King Salmon (Oucorhynchus Tshawytscha) demonstrates determination in its migrational run, as well. Every February, Salmon eggs hatch along riverbeds. Tens of thousands of the eggs never hatch. The eggs lying along the gravel of the river bottom are exposed to many destructive forces. Ninety to ninety-five percent of the eggs are destroyed under natural conditions. Some of the hazards the eggs face are: overexposure to light, extreme cold, exposure to air, sedimentation and parasites. Spring runoffs can cause strong currents that uncover the eggs and cause them to be washed downstream.

When the salmon hatch, they remain under the gravel until after the yolk attaches to their stomach and empties it’s nourishment into the salmon. Then they emerge from the gravel and are swept into a lake where they mature. The salmon will feed on plankton and insects, growing four to eight inches in length. After their time in the lake they will swim downstream and wait at the mouth of the river for its body to acclimate to saltwater.

The salmon can dive down past one hundred feet during the day. It generally swims closer to the surface at night. During the summer the salmon gain their greatest weight by feeding on herring and other ocean fish. They generally spend one to four years in the ocean. When the salmon decides to head back to freshwater it uses the sun and moon’s ray as directions to find the mouth of the river. Along the way they eat as much food as possible because once they return to freshwater, it no longer eats.

When the salmon returns to the river, its body changes for reproduction. The male’s changes are more noticeable. The lower jaw grows larger and turns up at the end, while the upper jaw lengthens and turns into a curved hook and its body deepens to a dull red. It can take as long as six months to reach the spot of the river where it hatched. When they arrive at their destination, the males battle for territorial rights.

The females scrape out a broad trench two feet long for the eggs. When the temperature is between 45-50 degrees the paired fish will turn into the current and the female will begin to lay her 30,000 eggs in groups of one thousand. The male fertilizes them then the female covers them with sand and gravel. After they are finished, the parents drift downstream to die.

The Wolverine (Gulo Luscus) is a fierce animal who won’t back away when threatened. Its handicaps are that its eyesight is poor compared to other predators, and its distinctive gait causes it to be slow and clumsy on dry terrain. The wolverine is the largest animal in the weasel family and has partially retractable claws. Their claws are useful for both climbing and tearing things. Since they are slow creatures they will climb an overhang and wait for its prey to pass by. It will then jump on the back of its prey and sever vital organs. The wolverine has to rely on its sense of smell in order to hunt its prey.

The wolverine will either be running or stopped. It does not just walk. It can run for 3-4 hours and then will rest for the same amount of time. It is equipped with musk glands and will travel an area around fifty to seventy-five thousand acres and will spread its scent on mounds to warn other wolverines of its hunting territory. The wolverine’s fur does not collect frost or snow which keeps it from getting weighed down while on the move. Its strange gait helps it to not sink in the snowy areas where it lives. All four feet will hit the ground at the same time and its large foot pads help to evenly distribute its weight across the snow. This is a great advantage when the wolverine is hunting deer and caribou whose hoofs will sink into the snow and will exhaust the animal before the wolverine becomes exhausted. During the winter months in the northern regions when deep snow keeps the wolverine from hunting, it can go from days to weeks without food because it had previously eaten as much as possible.

The wolverine can bring down food much larger than itself and cannot possibly eat its food all at once. It will spray its musk scent over the food in order to keep other animals from eating the food. Indians and trappers feared and respected the wolverines. The wolverines are cunning and would follow the trapper’s lines, spring the traps and devour food. They would even eat the bait in the unsprung traps without being caught then they would hide or destroy the trap. Its single-minded determination distinguishes the wolverine from all other animals.