❄️ Snow and ice animal reports, grades 3–4
11 sheets, one animal each, so every child in a group gets a different one. Pick another set or one animal.
My report: the emperor penguin
Aptenodytes forsteri · Grades 3–4
| Length | not checked yet: look it up! |
|---|---|
| Height | 3.7 ft (1.1 m) |
| Weight | 88 lb (40 kg) |
| Top speed | not checked yet: look it up! |
| How long it lives | not checked yet: look it up! |
Read about it
Emperor penguins raise their chicks in the middle of the Antarctic winter. After the mother lays her egg, the father balances it on his feet under a warm fold of skin while she goes to sea to feed. A big crowd of penguins huddles together and takes turns standing on the windy outside.
Where it lives (its habitat):
What it eats:
How its body helps it live there:
My favorite fact:
A question I still have:
Where my facts came from
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, press release 25 Oct 2022, fws.gov/press-release/2022-10/emperor-penguin-gets-endangered-species-act-protections, checked 2026-10-30
My report: the gray wolf
Canis lupus · Grades 3–4
| Length | 5.9 ft (1.8 m) |
|---|---|
| Height at the shoulder | 30 to 32 in (77 to 81 cm) |
| Weight | 90 to 110 lb (41 to 50 kg) |
| Top speed | 35 mph (56 km/h) |
| How long it lives | 4 to 5 years |
Read about it
A wolf pack is usually a family: a mother, a father and their pups from the last few years. They howl to call the pack together and to tell other packs where they are. Wolves can travel a long way in a day looking for food.
Where it lives (its habitat):
What it eats:
How its body helps it live there:
My favorite fact:
A question I still have:
Where my facts came from
- National Park Service, Yellowstone (wolf facts), nps.gov/articles/yellowstone-wolf-facts.htm, checked 2026-10-30
My report: the polar bear
Ursus maritimus · Grades 3–4
| Length | not checked yet: look it up! |
|---|---|
| Height at the shoulder | 4.9 ft (1.5 m) |
| Weight | 399 to 1,450 lb (181 to 658 kg) |
| Top speed | not checked yet: look it up! |
| How long it lives | 25 years |
Read about it
A polar bear's fur looks white, but each hair is clear and hollow, and its skin underneath is black to soak up the sun's warmth. Thick fat keeps it warm while it swims between pieces of ice. Its big paws work like paddles and snowshoes.
Where it lives (its habitat):
What it eats:
How its body helps it live there:
My favorite fact:
A question I still have:
Where my facts came from
- National Park Service, nps.gov/subjects/bears/polar-bears.htm, checked 2026-10-30
My report: the arctic fox
Vulpes lagopus · Grades 3–4
| Length | 3.6 ft (1.1 m) |
|---|---|
| Height at the shoulder | not checked yet: look it up! |
| Weight | 9.9 lb (4.5 kg) |
| Top speed | not checked yet: look it up! |
| How long it lives | not checked yet: look it up! |
Read about it
An Arctic fox has a thick coat that keeps it warm, plus small ears and a short nose that lose less heat. Its coat is white in winter to match the snow and brown in summer to match the rocks. When it sleeps, it curls up and covers its nose with its bushy tail.
Where it lives (its habitat):
What it eats:
How its body helps it live there:
My favorite fact:
A question I still have:
Where my facts came from
- National Park Service, Kobuk Valley National Park, nps.gov/kova/learn/nature/arctic-fox.htm, checked 2026-10-30
My report: the walrus
Odobenus rosmarus · Grades 3–4
| Length | 9.8 to 11 ft (3 to 3.5 m) |
|---|---|
| Height at the shoulder | not checked yet: look it up! |
| Weight | 1.9 tons (1.7 tonnes) |
| Top speed | 22 mph (35 km/h) |
| How long it lives | not checked yet: look it up! |
Read about it
A walrus has very sensitive whiskers, and it uses them to feel for clams and other food on the dark sea floor. Its tusks are long teeth, and walruses use them to haul their heavy bodies out of the water. A thick layer of fat, called blubber, keeps it warm.
Where it lives (its habitat):
What it eats:
How its body helps it live there:
My favorite fact:
A question I still have:
Where my facts came from
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Pacific Walrus Species Status Assessment (PDF), iris.fws.gov/APPS/ServCat/DownloadFile/132114, checked 2026-10-30
- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, fws.gov/media/pacific-walrus-bull-0, checked 2026-10-30
- National Park Service, Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, nps.gov/bela/learn/kidsyouth/alaskan-animal-adaptations.htm, checked 2026-10-30
My report: the reindeer (caribou)
Rangifer tarandus · Grades 3–4
| Length | 4.9 to 6.6 ft (1.5 to 2 m) |
|---|---|
| Height at the shoulder | 30 in to 4.9 ft (76 cm to 1.5 m) |
| Weight | 130 to 600 lb (59 to 272 kg) |
| Top speed | 6 mph (9.7 km/h) |
| How long it lives | 12 to 16 years |
Read about it
Reindeer eat lichen, a crusty growth on rocks and soil, which they dig out from under the snow with their wide hooves. In summer they eat grasses and leaves. Herds travel together across the open land.
Where it lives (its habitat):
What it eats:
How its body helps it live there:
My favorite fact:
A question I still have:
Where my facts came from
- National Park Service, Bering Land Bridge National Preserve, nps.gov/bela/learn/nature/caribou.htm, checked 2026-10-30
- National Park Service, Caribou: Did You Know?, nps.gov/articles/caribou-did-you-know.htm, checked 2026-10-30
- USDA Forest Service, Fire Effects Information System, fs.usda.gov/database/feis/animals/mammal/rata/all.html, checked 2026-10-30
My report: the narwhal
Monodon monoceros · Grades 3–4
| Length | 13 to 18 ft (4 to 5.5 m) |
|---|---|
| Height at the shoulder | not checked yet: look it up! |
| Weight | 1,760 lb to 1.8 tons (800 kg to 1.6 tonnes) |
| Top speed | not checked yet: look it up! |
| How long it lives | 25 to 50 years |
Read about it
A narwhal's tusk is a tooth that grows out through its upper lip in a spiral. Most tusks belong to males, though some females grow one too. Narwhals live in pods, and in winter they spend their time under thick sea ice, coming up to breathe at cracks.
Where it lives (its habitat):
What it eats:
How its body helps it live there:
My favorite fact:
A question I still have:
Where my facts came from
- NOAA Fisheries, fisheries.noaa.gov/species/narwhal, checked 2026-10-30
My report: the moose
Alces alces · Grades 3–4
| Length | 9 ft (2.7 m) |
|---|---|
| Height at the shoulder | 5 to 7 ft (1.5 to 2.1 m) |
| Weight | 701 to 1,400 lb (318 to 635 kg) |
| Top speed | 35 mph (56 km/h) |
| How long it lives | 15 to 25 years |
Read about it
A male moose grows wide, flat antlers, which fall off each winter and grow back in spring. Moose have long legs for stepping over fallen logs and wading through deep snow and lakes. They wade into ponds to eat water plants, and they can even dive under the surface to get them.
Where it lives (its habitat):
What it eats:
How its body helps it live there:
My favorite fact:
A question I still have:
Where my facts came from
- National Park Service, Kenai Fjords, nps.gov/kefj/learn/nature/moose.htm, checked 2026-10-30
- National Park Service, Rocky Mountain, nps.gov/romo/learn/nature/moose.htm, checked 2026-10-30
- National Park Service, Denali, nps.gov/dena/learn/nature/moose.htm, checked 2026-10-30
- National Park Service, Grand Portage, nps.gov/articles/000/mooz-moose.htm, checked 2026-10-30
My report: the wood frog
Lithobates sylvaticus · Grades 3–4
| Length | 2 to 3 in (5.1 to 7.6 cm) |
|---|---|
| Height at the shoulder | not checked yet: look it up! |
| Weight | not checked yet: look it up! |
| Top speed | not checked yet: look it up! |
| How long it lives | not checked yet: look it up! |
Read about it
Wood frogs spend winter under fallen leaves, where parts of their bodies freeze. Their hearts stop beating and they stop breathing until the spring warmth thaws them. A natural sugar in their bodies keeps the ice from harming their cells.
Where it lives (its habitat):
What it eats:
How its body helps it live there:
My favorite fact:
A question I still have:
Where my facts came from
- National Park Service, Gates of the Arctic National Park & Preserve, nps.gov/gaar/learn/nature/wood-frog-page-1.htm, checked 2026-10-30
My report: the beluga whale
Delphinapterus leucas · Grades 3–4
| Length | 16 ft (4.9 m) |
|---|---|
| Height at the shoulder | not checked yet: look it up! |
| Weight | 1.6 tons (1.4 tonnes) |
| Top speed | not checked yet: look it up! |
| How long it lives | 90 years |
Read about it
A beluga's round forehead is called a melon. It helps the whale send out clicks and listen to the echoes, so it can find fish even under the ice. Belugas have no tall fin on their backs, just a low ridge, which lets them swim right under the sea ice, and calves are born gray and slowly turn white.
Where it lives (its habitat):
What it eats:
How its body helps it live there:
My favorite fact:
A question I still have:
Where my facts came from
- NOAA Fisheries, fisheries.noaa.gov/species/beluga-whale, checked 2026-10-30
My report: the musk ox
Ovibos moschatus · Grades 3–4
| Length | 8.2 ft (2.5 m) |
|---|---|
| Height at the shoulder | not checked yet: look it up! |
| Weight | 441 to 882 lb (200 to 400 kg) |
| Top speed | not checked yet: look it up! |
| How long it lives | not checked yet: look it up! |
Read about it
A musk ox wears two coats: long, shaggy hairs on the outside and super soft wool underneath, called qiviut. The wool is so warm that the animal can stay cozy in the Arctic winter. When danger is near, the herd bunches together, with the calves in the middle and the grown-ups facing outward.
Where it lives (its habitat):
What it eats:
How its body helps it live there:
My favorite fact:
A question I still have:
Where my facts came from
- National Park Service, Cape Krusenstern, nps.gov/cakr/learn/nature/muskox.htm, checked 2026-10-30