Book excerpt: Where and what is the Arctic? What animals live there, and how are they distributed? How do they cope with cold in their austere environment, and how can Arctic mammals survive birth when it is 40 degrees below freezing. How can seals dive to a depth of 1000 metres and stay submerged for more than an hour, and how does complete darkness in winter affect the inhabitants of the high Arctic? This book answers these questions and also gives an introduction to the Arctic. It is based on the author's 40 years of experience in the Arctic, its environment and animal life. As this book contains almost 200 illustrations and deals with the entire Arctic animal kingdom, it will be suitable as a textbook for courses in Arctic biology, and also serve specialists in the field. It is a reference book and a source of information about published original literature.