The great white polar bear slowly glides across the snow covered ground in search of something to eat. In the distance, a white arctic hare is also looking for a meal. An arctic fox is on the prowl. These animals thrive in an environment which is very cold, and unfriendly to most life forms.

What would happen if we moved a polar bear from the arctic tundra to the steamy rain forests of South America? How long would the bear survive? Probably not very long. However, we could move the bear from the Arctic Tundra in North America to the Arctic Tundra in Asia, and he would be just fine.

In order to better understand the world we live in, biologists have divided our planet into what they call biomes. A biome is a big word that simply means an area of land which shares similar characteristics.