The three only indigenous land mammals in Svalbard are the Arctic fox, the Svalbard reindeer and the polar bear. The polar bear is particularly well adapted to the arctic life conditions, and spends most of its time on the pack ice. It may however stay over summer in Svalbard, in order to raise its cubs or when it missed the receding pack ice. In such cases, it may become dangerous to humans, especially if you don’t know about adequate protection measures.
Sea mammals include the ringed and the bearded seal, walruses and various species of whales, especially minky whales and beluga. Some of these species have been hunted so much until the middle of this century, that their populations only just begin to recover after having been protected.
Svalbard has a very rich bird life in summer. In fact, the ptarmigan is the only bird known to remain on the island throughout the year. The most common birds are auks and gulls. Some of them fly extremely long distances during migration, in particular the arctic tern, which spends the winter in Antarctica.
There are no trees in Svalbard, but the polar willow and the dwarf birch form small bushes a few centimetres high. Most common are mosses, lichen and fungi, but there are also about 170 vascular plants growing on Svalbard, like saxifrage and Arctic bell-heather.