Dogs in Greenland outnumber humans, say Spanish researchers
Sunday, May 14, 2017 @ 10:29 PM
DOG-LOVERS who don't mind the cold would be in seventh heaven in Greenland, an island where the pooch population outnumbers that of humans.
That's the conclusion reached by a Spanish father-and-son Arctic explorer team who carried out a census.
Manuel Calvo and his son Manuel Calvo Ariza – who, at 17, is one of the world's youngest Arctic adventurers – have been working on research about how climate change is affecting native Greenland dogs, and presented their report this week in Málaga, drawn up following a three-week stay in the Danish-owned region.
In the south of Greenland - which is in fact part of Denmark rather than a separate nation – the part where the capital city, Nuuk, is located is generally only slightly colder than a British winter, but the two Manuels have spent most of their time in the north, trekking across 400 kilometres of tundra in temperatures ranging from -20ºC to an unthinkable -32ºC.
They drew up a census of 1,420 dogs and 1,210 human inhabitants in the four towns in Arctic Greenland which have any residents at all.
Northern Greenland dogs tend to be very homogenous in terms of species and characteristics, they say, compared with those on the east and south coasts, and in the harsh climate of the far north, the animals have a very close relationship with humans, working as a team to survive in the extreme conditions faced year-round.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com