Do you have an
unquenchable thirst for Antarctica-related facts? You no doubt do!
That’s why you’re in for a real treat. Armed with a pencil,
notepad and a fleet of canoes, we went down to Antarctica to get to
the bottom of this mysterious, ice-filled continent. What did we
discover? Eight incredible facts, although we admittedly made one of
them up just for fun. See if you can figure out which seven are true
and which one is complete BS! Think you’re up to the challenge?
1. You Might Find
a Tinder Date in Antarctica If You Play Your Cards Right
You probably
immediately concluded that this one is the lie, right? Of course it’s
not, silly head! Do you really think we would make things all
anti-climatic by listing the lie first? True story: once upon a time
back in December 2014, a bored and lonely American scientist working
at the McMurdo Station in Antarctica decided to hunt for chickadees
on Tinder. His first search produced no results, but after expanding
the location range, he discovered the profile of another researcher
who was camping around 45 miles away! He swiped right and moments
later they were a match. One of them took the keys to the helicopter
(as any of us would do) and within minutes they were together. He
withheld his name in reports since the government sort of frowns upon
its employees using the research center’s expensive bandwidth to
look for some girl.
2. Eleven People
Have Been Born in Antarctica So Far
Have you ever heard
of Emilio Marcos Palma? Does January 7, 1978 ring a bell? If not,
today’s your lucky day because we’re going to educate you! The
son of Argentinian parents – including a father who was an army
officer at the Esperanza Research Base – Mr. Palma was the first
documented human ever born in Antarctica. Ten other babies have since
celebrated the first moments of their lives there, but as the
expression that I’m making up right now goes, “There is first
place and then all of the losers who aren’t in first place.”
3. Antarctica
Used to Have Temperatures That Reached 62 °F (17 °C)
As we all know,
Antarctica is the coldest place on Earth, which probably makes the
experience of wrapping yourself in a blanket and sipping hot cocoa
next to a warm fire extra satisfying. But there was a time when the
continent had a far more mild climate. Around 40-50 million years
ago, temperatures in Antarctica reached the mid-60s, pretty much
making it Poland during the dog days of summer. In fact, you could
even find lush forests and even dinosaurs back in those days.. .just
like in Poland today!!!
4. Antarctica Has
No Time Zones
Because of where the
continent is located, the whole time thing gets pretty wacky. With
almost constant sunlight during the summer and perpetual darkness in
the winter, the normal indicators we use to tell time are completely
pointless. Add to this the fact that the lines of longitude get
closer and closer together as you approach Antarctica, and there
isn’t really any possible way to properly apply a time zone.
Instead, scientists working there base their time zone off of the
port where they departed, which means pure anarchy if we’re talking
about neighboring stations that arrived from different parts of the
world. But whatever. Physicists and philosophers say time is a mere
illusion anyway.
5. Antarctica is
the Only Continent Without Ants
Ants are practically
everywhere. They crash your picnics, crawling up and down your arms
like ants do. They wander your kitchen, with drops of sweet, sweet
spilt cola as their reward. As children, we enjoyed stepping on them
because they were oh-so-squashable. But if we all lived in
Antarctica, none of this would be possible since it’s the one place
in the world not colonized by these buggies.
6. Some Parts of
Antarctica Haven’t Seen Precipitation in 2 million Years
When you think of
Antarctica, you probably imagine penguins building huge ice castles
and polar bears engaging in epic snowball fights. While this seems
perfectly reasonable, there are actually areas of the continent where
this would be impossible since they haven’t received rain or snow
in what seems like an eternity. Granted, it’s only around 1% of
Antarctica, but that’s still 2500 miles of frozen desert! So next
time you freak out because it hasn’t rained in a week (as you have
a tendency to do), remember that it could be worse.
7. Santa Claus and His Elves Live in a Huge Compound in the Middle of Antarctica
This is the lie.
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