• Skua@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      18
      ·
      1 year ago

      Funnily enough, “Antarctica” is literally “not bear land”. “Arktos” is an old Greek word for bear. The constellation Ursa Major (itself meaning “great bear” in Latin) is in the northern part of the sky, so the Greeks named the north after it, the Arctic. Some Greek philosophers theorised that the north pole must have a counterpart in the south, and since the land around the north pole was the Arctic they named it the Anti-Arctic, or Antarctic. How correct they accidentally were would not be discovered for about 2,000 years.

    • CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      1 year ago

      Honestly there’s not much in inland Antarctica. Some scientists and some very bored skuas that were hoping for an adventure and just got ice.

  • such_lettuce7970@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    3
    ·
    1 year ago

    I see the Great Lakes have dried up, or perhaps been drank by very thirsty bears. I myself have met a few thirsty bears in Toronto, but I think they may have been a different subspecies. Musky though.