Arctic : A guide to coastal wildlife

The extensively updated fifth edition of this beautifully illustrated full-colour guidebook to Arctic coastal wildlife.

Designed as the perfect companion for expedition-cruise passengers, this engagingly written guide brings to life the most likely animals and plants you'll encounter—from iconic polar bears and beluga whales to snowy owls and delicate snow buttercups. Only a small number of hardy creatures, including narwhals, walruses and Ross's gulls, call the Arctic their year-round home. But when summer arrives, the region explodes with life as plankton and plants flourish, supporting massive populations of fish, seabirds and whales. For these few precious months of almost endless daylight, the coastal Arctic—from Greenland to Svalbard, Alaska to the Bering Sea—offers an unforgettable parade of wildlife.

On a typical Arctic expedition cruise, you might watch walruses lounging on rocks, spot harp seals bobbing in icy water, or observe Arctic foxes hunting for goose eggs. You could witness little auks flooding to cliffside breeding colonies, keep watch for polar bears and ivory gulls on ice floes, or catch the distinctive blow of a humpback whale or the flash of white that signals a beluga. Packed with fascinating natural histories that bring star species to life, this guide celebrates polar nature during a crucial time when climate change is profoundly affecting the far north.

Written by the late Tony Soper, expedition leader and founder of the BBC Natural History Unit, and illustrated with full-colour watercolour paintings by award-winning wildlife artist Dan Powell, this new edition has been updated by naturalist and award-winning travel writer James Lowen. An eminently portable guidebook, it's the ideal companion for anyone exploring the Arctic.