Walrus : This large darling is flippered, fabulous, and found in the Arctic Ocean around the North Pole and subarctic Northern Hemisphere seas. You may know them from their gigantic tusked face and huge bodies—grown males can get up to 4,400 pounds. These gargantuan lads can usually be found lounging about or searching for mussels, clams, and fish to dine on. And those tusks help a pretty great deal with piercing through ice. Walruses are large, in charge, and a keystone species, playing a critical role in the ecological community.

Arctic Fox : The arctic fox is tiny but strong, able to survive in the harshest conditions of the treeless Arctic regions. These little fellows live inside of burrows, enabling them to hide from blizzards effectively. The arctic fox is also a master of disguise—its pure white coat helps it to blend in with the snow during the winter months, and when the snow melts and the surroundings change, so does its coat, giving its a brownish-gray appearance.

Puffin : The puffin, at first glance, looks like the cartoon clock salesman of birds, in that he looks like he owns and operates an old-timey shop in the 1800s while also being the mayor of the town. In reality, however, they are Arctic seabirds who find their food by diving straight into the water like small, torpedoing adventurers. Puffins love to hang out on cliffs and islands in massive groups.

Snow Bunting : The snow bunting is a sweet-looking little Arctic bird and is the only bird of their kind (a passerine) that can travel so far into the Northern Hemisphere during the wintertime, other than the common raven (as we all know). The snow bunting loves to eat weeds and who can blame them. They have also been known to prey on basking spiders by throwing rocks at them, which is quite a noble activity in which they deserve some sort of award.

Muskox : The muskox is an Arctic hoofed mammal that looks like a half bison, half huge pillow with antler bonnets. They are herd animals, and the males emit a horrible smell during mating season to attract females. Fact: female muskox love foul-smelling husbands. They can live anywhere from 12 to 20 years. Despite being gigantic in size, they are not known for being aggressive towards humans.

The Bajau people of Southeast Asia are among the most accomplished divers in the world. Underwater, the Bajau are as comfortable as most people are on land. They walk on the seafloor. They have complete control of their breath and body. They spear fish, no problem, first try. Sometimes known as “sea nomads,” the Bajau have lived at sea for more than 1,000 years, on small houseboats that float in the waters off Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Their floating homes keep them connected to the sea at all times, though their distance from the mainlands also keep them disconnected them from modern civilization. Traditionally, they came ashore only to trade for supplies or to shelter from storms.

They collect their food by free diving to depths of more than 230 feet. They have no wet suits or flippers, and use only wooden goggles and spear guns of their own making. Sometimes, they rupture their own eardrums at an early age to make diving easier.  The Bajau traditionally reside in small boats topped with thatched roofs to protect them from the elements. They are born and die with the tides, sailing day and night, using their fishing skills to make a living. This is how they earned the title of the “nomads of the seas.” The Bajau continue to develop their intuitive knowledge of the oceans. Not only are they adept sailors, but they’ve also evolved to hold their breath longer and dive deeper than most other humans.

The Bajau are genetically connected to their environment. Their spleens are up to 50% larger than other homo sapiens. The spleen’s primary purpose is to act as a blood filter. Under normal conditions, the organ stockpiles oxygen-rich red blood cells. Yet, when a person stops breathing the spleen contracts and evacuates the cells to boost oxygen in the body. People with unusually large spleens are also predisposed to surviving longer in oxygen-deprived environments such as underwater or on a high mountain peak.

Women typically give birth on land in huts that are built on stilts to protect them from the waves. The Bajau who remain in this environment have no known knowledge of reading or writing. Life is entirely organized around fishing. From the smallest children who can swim better than they can walk, to the elderly, everyone finds their place in the fishing trade. They give birth on the sea and die also on the sea. Everything happened on their boat. But because most of them are Muslims, they usually will bury their families on the mainland. All the funeral process will usually follow the Islamic tradition, from bathing to burial process. The sad thing is, Bajau is not recognized in any citizens.

Although the Bajau are from the Sulu archipelago which is still part of Philippines territory, the Philippine government itself does not want to recognize them as Filipino citizens. It is the same as in Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia. Their lives keep moving, when they try to pull over to a mainland, usually not long after they will be driven out by the local population. There are at least 10 languages that are owned by some Bajau tribal groups depending on which part of sea area they live the longest.

There is another fact about the Bajau tribe which live in eastern part of Indonesia. It turned out that most of them could not speak Indonesian fluently but Malay language instead. This indicates that their kinship system is closer to Malay people than Indonesians. Sea nomad life makes the Bajau Tribe is not so concerned with education of their offspring. The result, of course, the majority of them do not know letters, aka illiterate. In fact they are not really know about their age.