Antarctica is Earth’s frozen continent. Covering 5.5 million square miles (14.2 million square kilometers), it’s bigger than Europe and Australia. It holds about 60% of Earth’s total fresh water, with ice up to 3 miles (5 kilometers) thick in places.
But this wasn’t always the case. During the Cretaceous period (145 million to 66 million years ago), when dinosaurs roamed Earth, Antarctica was ice-free and was covered in a subtropical rainforest, serving as a land bridge for these extinct giants to cross continents.
Around 34 million years ago, things changed and an ice sheet started growing across the landscape. Global temperatures plummeted and the continents shifted, separating Antarctica from South America and creating a circumpolar current that isolated it from the rest of the world.
Now, just a tiny fraction of Antarctica is covered with vegetation — but that’s starting to change, as warmer global temperatures melt the ice, turning the landscape green.
But how much do you know about Antarctica? Take our quiz to find out!
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