Antarctic

"Antarctica is a vast ice-covered landmass surrounded by sea (unlike the Arctic, which is an ice-covered ocean surrounded by land). It’s bigger than Europe, and in summer, it's still 62 times the size of the UK. Antarctica is the world’s highest, driest, windiest and coldest continent. Its record low temperature is -94°C. But it doesn’t actually snow much – the Antarctic is so dry it’s classed as a polar desert. And it’s in darkness part of the year. There are no trees, or shrubs, and only two kinds of native flowering plant . . . The Antarctic is one of the world’s least disturbed places, but it’s increasingly vulnerable, especially to global warming and climate change. Antarctica has no land-based mammals – just some hardy flightless insects – but it's rich in sealife, including seabirds like penguins, whales, seals and shrimp-like krill."

"The Antarctic," World Wildlife Fund.