25 Fun And Amazing Facts That You Didn’t Know About Antarctica

The icy continent of Antarctica covers over 5.4 million square miles and is the world’s fifth largest continent. The place is located within the Arctic Circle, which only means that temperatures always fall below zero most of the year.

Here are other 25 fun and amazing facts about Antarctica you need to know.

1. A red waterfall can be found in Antarctica.

2. Polar bears don’t live in Antarctica but the continent is home to lots of penguins.

3. Antarctica doesn’t follow an official timezone.

4. The highest temperature ever recorded in the continent is 58.2 degrees Fahrenheit or 14.5 degrees Celsius.

5. Mount Erebus, which spews crystals, is the most active volcano on the southernmost part of the Earth.

6. There are two ATMs in Antarctica operated by Wells Fargo but only one can be used at a time.

7. 90% of the fresh water on Earth is on the continent.

8. You cannot get a job in Antarctica unless you have had your wisdom teeth extracted and appendix removed.

9. Antarctica once had a warm temperature like in present-day California.

10. At least seven Christian churches have been erected in Antarctica.

11. Antarctica has a Chile civilian town that has a hospital, school, hostel, Internet, post office, mobile phone and TV coverage.

12. A scientist in the continent scored a date with a girl via Tinder. The girl was camping just 45 minutes away.

13. The average thickness of ice in the continent is around 1 mile.

14. Antarctica’s ice sheet is at least 40 million years old.

15. Antarctica is the world’s largest desert.

16. Antarctica is the only place in the world that doesn’t have reptiles.

17. Some parts of the continent have had no rain for the last two million years.

18. Antarctica is where you can find Earth’s coldest place where the temperatures can reach -93.2 degrees Celsius.

19. Beneath the icy land of Antarctica, there are 300 lakes that cannot be frozen as they are warmed by the Earth’s core.

20. Argentina sent a pregnant woman to the continent in 1977 to claim a portion of the land. The boy was the first human ever born in Antarctica.

21. Only less than 1% of Antarctica is permanently ice-free; the rest of the continent is covered in ice.

22. The largest iceberg, which measured 11,000 square kilometers and is considered bigger than Jamaica, separated from Antarctica in 2000.

23. 38 countries have signed a treaty that prohibits mineral mining, military activities, nuclear waste disposal and nuclear explosions in Antarctica.

24. Some places in Antarctica have winds that can reach the speed of 200 mph.

25. The coldest, windiest, driest, and highest continent in the world is Antarctica.