43 Interesting Baffin Island Facts For Kids

Baffin Island is known to be the largest island of the Canadian Arctic, located in Nunavut's territory.

It is named after the British scientist William Baffin, however, its 'discovery' is given to Martin Frobisher, who arrived in what became Frobisher Bay in 1576 when hunting for the Northwest Passage. The island's Inuktitut name is Qikiqtaaluk, which means 'extremely huge island' and is spelled in Inuktitut syllabics.

Pangnirtung (Panniqtuuq), Iqaluit (the regional headquarters and territorial capital), Pond Inlet (Mittimatalik), and Cape Dorset (Kingnait) on Baffin Island, as well as Igloolik (Iglulik) on the Melville Peninsula, are also major communities.

Baffin Island has a windchill index of -58 degrees F (-50 degrees C) and a severe winter threshold of -58 degrees F (-50 degrees C). That temperature causes local primary schools in Iqaluit to close for the day, as it did one evening just last week.

However, throughout the remainder of Nunavut, the freezing point is significantly higher, at -67 degrees F (-55 degrees C).

Nunavut seems to be the only province in Canada without even a territorial tree, which may be unsurprising. However, a national environmental organization is working to alter that.

Increased energy efficiency and the utilization of renewable energy helps the territory minimize greenhouse gas emissions and its reliance on fossil fuels. Climate change hazards to Nunavut and Nunavummiut during the last ice age were analyzed by humans in Baffin Island.

The Geographic Location Of Baffin Island

• Baffin Island (previously Baffin Land) is the biggest island in Canada and also the fifth-largest island throughout the world, located in the Canadian territory of Nunavut.
• It has a population of 13,148 people and covers 195,928 sq mi (507,451 sq km) according to the 2016 Canadian Census. It is situated at a latitude of 68 degrees N and a longitude of 70 degrees W.
• Baffin Island, Canada's largest (and fifth-largest) island, is a huge, untamed terrain, the beautiful Inuit homeland, as well as reachable Arctic playgrounds for the adventurous. The Davis Strait, a bay of the northern Atlantic Ocean, lies around southeastern Baffin Island (Canada) and the southwestern Greenland Davis Strait.
• Baffin Island is the biggest component of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, located in Nunavut's territory. With a total size of 195,928 sq mi (507,451 sq km), it is the biggest island in Canada and also the sixth-largest in the world.
• Although it is named after the British explorer William Baffin, Martin Frobisher, who arrived in what has become Frobisher Bay in 1576 whilst hunting for the Northwest Passage, is credited with its 'discovery.' Many people think that Baffin Island is indeed the legendary 'Helluland' of the Vikings.
• The Island's physical geography is breathtaking. A glacier-laden mountain backbone with mountains up to 7,045 ft (2147 m) moves down much of its 950 mi (1528 km) length, indented by numerous fjords.
• Separating Greenland and the Canadian mainland is Baffin Island. Baffin Bay and the Davis Strait divide it from Greenland to the north and east. On the south, the Hudson Strait divides the island again from the Labrador-Ungava mainland, which includes Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador.
• Baffin Island is isolated from the rest of the archipelago on the west and north by Foxe Basin, the Gulf of Boothia, and Lancaster Sound. It is the biggest island in Canada and the sixth-largest on the globe, with 195,928 sq mi (507,451 sq km).
• It is a part of Nunavut, Canada's biggest and newest territory, which was formed on April 1, 1999, when the Northwest Territories were legally divided.
• To the extreme north of Canada, Baffin Island spans the Arctic Circle. Deep valleys, undulating tundra, stunning fjords, and jagged mountain peaks characterize this country.
• It has about 11,000 residents, three-quarters of whom are Inuit, live in tiny coastal villages. Because of its lack of development, the Arctic has some of the cleanest air on the planet.
• Despite the scant flora, animals such as the barren-ground caribou, lemming, arctic fox, polar bear, arctic hares, and arctic wolf thrive. Harp Seals, beluga whales, walruses, narwhals, and bowhead whales all make their homes in the nearby seas.
• Iqaluit, the territory's capital city, is situated on Baffin Island's southeastern shore. Up until 1987, the city and the harbor with which it is situated were known as Frobisher Bay.
• The island's two largest lakes are Nettilling Lake 1,956 sq mi (5066 sq km) and Amadjuak Lake 1,956 sq mi (5066 sq km) in the central south.
• The northeastern coast mines, where silver, lead, and zinc, are extracted are located on the island's northwestern point. Iron-ore reserves have also been discovered in the northern tip of the island.

The Waterfalls Of Baffin Island

• Schwarzenbach Falls, also referred to as Qulitasaniakvik, is a multi-tiered horsetail waterfall on Baffin Island's Weasel River Valley, Nunavut, Canada. With a total height of 1,710 ft (521 m), it is Canada's fourth-highest waterfall and the tallest outside of British Columbia.
• Qulitasaniakvik, meaning 'place to acquire caribou skins' in Inuktitut, is the Inuktitut term for the waterfall. The name comes from the fact that the valley, just above the falls, is a wonderful area to go caribou hunting.
• The falls are formed by an unidentified stream that cascades 1,710 ft (521 m) down the Weasel River Valley's western side.
• The first drop, which assumes the shape of a horsetail, is 660 ft (201 m) over the brink of an inclined cliff. The cliff then leads to a series of talus deposits, which are followed by a succession of four smaller cascades that fall an additional 1,050 ft (320 m).

The Wildlife Of Baffin Island

• Baffin Island is home to year-round animals as well as seasonal visitors. On land, barren-ground caribou, arctic fox, polar bear, lemming, arctic hare, and arctic wolves are examples of year-round species.
• Barren-ground caribou herds move in a narrow area from central and northern Baffin Island to the southern Baffin Island in the winter, then return northward in the summer, perhaps to the southern part of Frobisher Bay peninsula, near Resolution Island.
• The polar bear may be seen everywhere along the coast, although they are most common where sea ice forms pack ice, which is where their main food source — ringed seals (jar seals) and bearded seals — dwell. Every year, the polar bear may mate and give birth to one to three cubs around the month of March.
• In their pursuit for seals, Arctic foxes can be spotted on the quick ice, staying close to land. These scavengers frequently accompany polar bears to collect their droppings. Arctic foxes are occasionally captured by Inuit on Baffin Island, despite the absence of a significant fur business.
• Arctic hare may be found all across the island. In the winter, their fur is immaculately white, and in the summer, it molts to a dirty dark grey. For the island's fox and wolf populations, Arctic hare, together with lemmings, constitute a key food source.
• Lemmings may be found all across the island, and they are a key food source for foxes, wolves, and snowy owls. Lemmings develop complex tunnel networks through snowdrifts to access their food sources of dry grasses and lichens in the winter.
• The island's arctic wolf is likewise a year-round inhabitant. These wolves, unlike grey and brown wolves in warmer areas, prefer to prey alone instead of in groups, however, a male-female combination may forage together.
• The ringed seal spends the entire year on Baffin Island, in which it dwells off the coast within 5 mi (8 km) of land. It produces a lot of ventilation holes under ice up to 8 ft (2.4 m) thick throughout the winter by examining each one frequently and keeping the hole open and clear of ice.
• When a female is due to give birth in March, she will widen one of several breathing holes which has snow covering it and construct a little 'igloo' where she will give birth to one or two pups.
• Within three weeks, the puppies are swimming in the water. Even during summer, ringed seals stick to a 1.24 mi (2 km) wide area along the beach.
• Baffin Island's summer land visitors all have wings and travel to the island to lay their eggs. For several species of migrating birds, Baffin Island is an important breeding location along the Eastern and Mid-West flyways.
• Snow geese, Canada geese, and brent geese are examples of waterfowl (brant goose). The phalarope, different waders (often termed sandpipers), murres, notably Brünnich's guillemot, and plovers are among the shorebirds.
• The glaucous gull, herring gull, and ivory gull all have nesting territories on Baffin Island. The arctic tern, which migrates from Antarctica every spring, is an example of a long-distance traveler. Coots, loons, mallards, and a variety of other duck species are among the aquatic birds that make their homes here.
• Harp seals (also known as saddle-backed seals) are marine mammals that travel to Baffin Island for the summer from significant birthing sites off the coast of Labrador and a breeding place off the south-east coast of Greenland.
• The beluga whale is a marine animal that is seldom seen south of 70 degrees north latitude.
• Some move north to the nesting sites in the Davis Strait connecting Greenland and Baffin Island, while others migrate south to the Hudson Strait or any one of the bays and estuaries in between.

Language And Population Of Baffin Island

• Many Baffin Island Inuit speak Inuktitut as their first language. There are various varieties of the language, particularly North coast and South Baffin. According to the 2016 census, 36,015 Indigenous persons identified Inuktitut as their first language.
• The Inuit of Baffin Island speak a variety of languages and have a diverse culture. The Iglulik (Igloolik), who really dwell on the mainland, are responsible for those in the extreme north.
• The remaining tribes, known as the South Baffin Island Inuit, live along the mountainous east coast of Baffin Island, comprising Cumberland Sound and Frobisher Bay, as well as the north side of Hudson Strait.
• The Labrador Inuit, mostly on the opposite side of the Hudson Strait, which has been regularly crossed for commercial purposes, share many cultural similarities with the latter.
• Baffin Island is a small island off the coast of Canada Inuit (also known as Nunatsiarmiut) are Native people who dwell on Baffin Island, the Arctic Archipelago's biggest island and Nunavut's territory. The overall Inuit population in the Baffin area was 14,875, according to the 2016 census.
• Baffin Island is a small island off the coast of Canada Baffin Island, the biggest island in the Arctic Archipelago and part of Nunavut's territory, is home to the Inuit.
• Iqaluit, Pond Inlet, Pangnirtung, Clyde River, Kimmirut, Arctic Bay, and Nanisivik are among the Inuit villages on Baffin Island, which may be the part of the Qikiqtaaluk Region of Nunavut.
• And according to the 2016 census, the entire Inuit population in Baffin was 14,875 people, while the overall non-Inuit population was 5,440.