Warm and Safe

Keeping warm is a major preoccupation for humans and animals living in cold climates. The trick is to trap warm air by wearing lots of layers of clothes. Traditionally, people wore garments made from animal skins, usually decorated in bright colours. There's a good reason for that- bright colours make you visible from a long way off, so if you do get caught in a whiteout you've got a chance of being rescued. If we go somewhere cold and don't keep wrapped up warm, we lose body heat from body vessels in our skin, especially from our ears, fingers, and toes. For animals they have to rely on their natural features to keep warm. Like the Emperor penguins huddle together for warmth, and have smaller beaks and flippers than any other penguins, so there is a smaller area in losing heat. Near the North Pole, the arctic fox and polar bear have very small ears for the same reason. Polar bears are also insulated by their fur. Each hair is hollow and traps body heat like a little "greenhouse".