Polar Bears and Penguins: Difference between revisions

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The primary difference between the Arctic and the Antarctic is that one has polar bears and one has penguins - if you're lucky enough not to see them in the same place or [[Misplaced Wildlife|one of them in the wrong place]]. Oh, and they're on opposite ends of the Earth, but who can remember which one is where? Certainly not Hollywood, which treats them as interchangeable lumps of ice to send doomed expeditions up. The (Ant)Arctic circle is full of snow, chasms, avalanches and those great big ice bridges that collapse just as the last person makes their way across. [[No Party Like a Donner Party|Cannibalism]] may be unavoidable. If one is lucky (or unlucky) you might find that [[Lost World|weird hidden tropical valley filled with...interesting denizens.]]

In [[Christmas Special~~|Christmas Specials~~]], children's cartoons and comics, there will literally be a South or North Pole that [[Incredibly Lame Pun|looks just like the striped poles outside barbers' shops]]. [[Christmas Elves]], reindeer and [[Santa Claus]] will no doubt be somewhere nearby, at least in the case of the ''North'' Pole. In these cases, the cannibalism rule can be waived, although, in a comedy, the word 'venison' is a guarantee.

In [[Christmas Special]]s, children's cartoons and comics, there will literally be a South or North Pole that [[Incredibly Lame Pun|looks just like the striped poles outside barbers' shops]]. [[Christmas Elves]], reindeer and [[Santa Claus]] will no doubt be somewhere nearby, at least in the case of the ''North'' Pole. In these cases, the cannibalism rule can be waived, although, in a comedy, the word 'venison' is a guarantee.

For the record, the North Pole is a frozen sea and the South Pole is an actual frozen continent, but that doesn't come up much either. If it did, we might [[Fridge Logic|start wondering]] why Santa built his house not on a rock, but on a floating mass of ice.

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* [[Terry Pratchett]] makes a joke of this (like everything else) in [[Discworld]], describing in ''[[Discworld/Thief of Time|Thief of Time]]'' a south-drifting iceberg populated by polar bears and seals, seeking a better life in the southern hemisphere where the ice floes are lined with crunchy penguins. Too bad that darned ''Titanic'' was in the way...

** Even better because in the UK ''Penguins'' are a brand of crunchy biscuit.

* [[Older Than Radio]]: Wyss's ''[[Swiss Family Robinson]]'' was riddled with an impossible concentration of animals and plants on an island. Penguins arrived in numbers on an island that's so close to the equator that it never ~~snows -- although~~ penguins aren't restricted to snowy or frigid climes by any means, the Galapagos Penguin is the only surviving species that lives in outright tropical climates.

* [[Older Than Radio]]: Wyss's ''[[Swiss Family Robinson]]'' was riddled with an impossible concentration of animals and plants on an island. Penguins arrived in numbers on an island that's so close to the equator that it never snows—although penguins aren't restricted to snowy or frigid climes by any means, the Galapagos Penguin is the only surviving species that lives in outright tropical climates.

** Considering how beloved a story ''[[Swiss Family Robinson]]'' is, I think we can chalk this one up to [[Bellisario's Maxim]].

* There's a book about Santa Claus which actually subverts this- Santa's workshop has a penguin population nearby, but they're noted as emigrating from the South Pole somehow (maybe stowing away at Santa's vacation spot). This particular breed has developed [[Happy Feet|a bowtie-like spot on their chests]].