Meet the expert
An Arctic biologist, Dr. David Gray has studied mammals and birds in Canada’s Arctic since 1968. Currently a Research Associate with the Canadian Museum of Nature, he has made over 30 research trips to the Arctic islands, studying the behaviour of several of the region’s birds and mammals. David has also written two books about the Arctic and has worked on a number of Arctic films and museum exhibits.
What is an Arctic biologist? A biologist studies the life of plants and animals and how they relate to their environment. Studying the behaviour of Arctic birds and mammals reveals the details of how certain species survive in the harsh environment, and how changes in their behaviour may be related to changes in the Arctic environment.
For Expedition Arctic, David set off on a mission to study and explore the Arctic’s exciting and awe-inspiring wildlife. As the Arctic climate changes, David is interested in how changes in a species’ behaviour may be related to changes to its habitat.
Video
My mission
My mission was to find Arctic mammal species and document their behavior. See how I did this.
Transcript: My mission
David Gray
Arctic Biologist and Research Associate, Canadian Museum of Nature:
My name is David Gray, I am a biologist, an historian and I work with the Canadian Museum of Nature and other Institutions across the country. As a biologist, I'm interested in all aspect of life on the planet but my specific area of interest is arctic mammals. My field is ethology, the study of the behaviour of animals in their natural setting. My mission on this expedition is to document our sighting of mammals from Baffin Island to Greenland. The biodiversity is not as great in the arctic, as in more southerly areas, though there are still some places up here which are incredibly rich in terms of wildlife. We hope to visit sites where thousand of sea birds breed and where walrus and bow head whales congregate in the summer. My task is to record anything that I see which may add to our knowledge about the incredible arctic and how changes and climate may be affecting arctic wildlife.
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Specimen
Arctic hare
The Arctic is home to many different animals. The Arctic hare is one of the largest members of the family of mammals called
Leporidae, which consists of hares and rabbits. The scientific name,
Lepus arcticus, simply means “hare of the Arctic".
Image: The skull of an Arctic hare.
View Arctic hare
Specimen
Polar bear
The polar bear (its scientific name being
Ursus maritimus) is the world's largest land carnivore, or meat-eater. It is the biggest member of the bear family, known by the scientific name,
Ursidae.
Image: A polar bear.
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Video
My trip
I explored many new areas that I have never been to before. In this video, see what I saw and find out what I learned.
Transcript: My trip
David Gray
Arctic Biologist and Research Associate, Canadian Museum of Nature:
I've been coming to the Arctic for over 40 years. There is still so much that we don't know about mammals of the Arctic and so every opportunity to learn more, is exciting. The basic knowledge of the mammals and their habitats is becoming more important because of climate change. We can't really know what the impacts will be, without a better understanding of the Arctic's basic biodiversity. One of my long standing research projects has been on the behaviour and ecology of the arctic hare. While we wait out here in Iqaluit for the ice to move out, so we can get out to our ship, I have the opportunity to look again for arctic hare. These are pellets from the arctic hare when they dig a little scrape like this, usually in the summer almost to keep cool or to keep out of the wind. While I did see one young hare right in the heart of Iqaluit, I didn't really have an opportunity to observe much in the way of natural behaviour, Whenever you get a pile of rocks like this, there is lots of wildlife which interacts with this pile of rocks. The raven sits on it and poops and you see all that stuff from the birds. And there are also arctic hare pellets here too because this is a good shelter, like this would be a good shelter today with the wind blowing this way. During the expedition so far, we have had some great opportunities to observe some polar bears and we did follow a female bow head and her calf for some time. Our landing in Qikigtarjuag gave us the opportunity to talk to some local people, about what they have seen, in terms of animals and changes in behaviour patterns. And what about bow heads, have you seen many bow heads this year? Yes the bow heads they come out here too. The Inuits know this amazing landscape and they need to understand the animals' behaviours in order to successfully hunt them. One of the elders hunter was telling us about the fact that a killer whale had killed a bow head whale, in this area recently and killer whales are really not something that they haven't seen that much, this far north before. It seems that killer whales are moving farther north, so it's something new. The Inuits are indispensable source of knowledge.
We depart for more locations. One place I'm really looking forward to is Kangerlussuaq, in Greenland. This is an area that has seen an incredible amount of change, due to the warming climate. The glaciers flowing from the icecap are changing dramatically.
The icecap itself is changing too, with a huge impact on the neighbouring landscape. Kangerlussuaq is the best place in Greenland to see musk oxen. There is a muskox' leg, the hoof seems to be a little more elongated than I would expect. I'm a little disappointed that we did not see any musk ox in the inland, still would like to see a musk ox in Greenland but at least we've been in the right habitat and had a great look. Seeing the Arctic has we have in the middle of the Summer, really shows how the impact of the climate change can affect the land and wildlife.
But it is important that we understand the rest of the Arctic here too, when all is frozen and covered with snow and ice, and the few species that live here all year round have to cope with the climate change of a different sort.
On this trip, I was able to gain more understanding of how arctic mammals may be impacted by climate change. This first time knowledge, is so important in the task of informing people, of the arctic inspiring birds and mammals and the incredible changes they are all facing.
We depart for more locations. But it is important that we understand the rest of the Arctic here too, when all is frozen and covered with snow and ice, and the few species that live here all year round have to cope with the climate change of a different sort.
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Specimen
Bowhead whale
The Bowhead whale (its scientific name being
Balaena mysticetus) is a large marine mammal that has adapted to living in and around Arctic sea ice. Scientists believe that bowhead whales are among the longest living mammals on the planet. After 50 years of age, bowhead whales continue to grow in size while their life-span is believed to be over 100 years old.
Image: A portion of a bowhead whale's skull.
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Specimen
Red-throated Loon
The Red-throated Loon (scientifically named
Gavia stellata) is the smallest of the three species of loons that breed in the Canadian Arctic. Like all other loons, they have difficulty walking on land as their legs are located far back on their body. The placement of the legs allows for excellent propulsion while diving and swimming underwater or paddling on the surface.
The Red-throated Loon is the only loon that can take off from land. All other loon species require a running-on-water take off.
Image: A Red-throated Loon.
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Video
My methods
Learn about the methods I use as a biologist. These skills and techniques have let me travel the world to follow my passions for exploration, science, and the quest for new knowledge.
Transcript: My methods
David Gray
Arctic Biologist and Research Associate, Canadian Museum of Nature:
The Canadian Museum of Nature is a collection as well as an exhibit institution, so when you come back from an expedition, this is the place where all your new information or new specimen is deposited. So it is a long and sometimes a complicated procedure to get all of your specimens identified, stabilized and in many cases there have to treated or cleaned or whatever. For me in the field of animal behaviour most of my specimens are photographs and film. For a lot of species, the recording of animal behaviour, ecological thing, is extremely important in management. For species where the Inuits depend on them for their livelihood, for their food, species like narwhal, bow head whales and polar bear, all of these animals are being impacted by changes in climate in global warming, changes in geography and changes in the amount of sea ice. So if the behaviour of the animal is related to the geography, the ice, the climate, the temperature or the weather, then yes there is going to be an impact on gain management, on hunting techniques, on hunting mortality so it could be extremely important for the future to know what the present behaviour of these species is.
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