The student news site of El Camino College

El Camino College The Union

The student news site of El Camino College

El Camino College The Union

The student news site of El Camino College

El Camino College The Union

Freezing waters and eskimo dogs discussed in film about the arctic

A film about photography and dogs in the arctic was shown as part of the discovery series shown at El Camino.

Arctic Simon, Unicorns and Teeth Walkers is part of the discovery series at Marsee Auditorium that was shown on Monday, April 3 at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.

The production focuses heavily on the arctic and the animals that live there.

The production’s main story was about Brian Ladoon and his story in Churchill, Manitoba, Canada. Ladoon is the unofficial caretaker of the few Canadian eskimo dogs that remain the province of Manitoba.

In the film, “The Last Dog of Winter,” Ladoon mentions the scarcity of the Canadian eskimo dogs and what they must do to survive.

“(They) got to be the toughest in their environment,” Ladoon said in the film, “Everybody wants to save polar bears but they could care less about the dogs.”

Canadian eskimo dogs are best suited for moving sleds across the frozen tundras of Canada, Dave Daley, a Hudson Bay Quest musher said in the film. They might run slow, but they can endure extreme temperatures.

In a separate film that was shown called, “To the Arctic 3D,” Adam Ravetch, an underwater cinematographer mentions the Greenland shark and the process he and his colleagues went through to take picture of the shark.

For photographers, finding the Greenland shark involves 14 separate dives in sub-zero waters for 30 minutes, or until their air supply freezes.

Ravetch and others had 30 minutes or less to take pictures of the Greenland shark once underwater. Sometimes their air supply would freeze before they run low on oxygen. They also had to dive 14 different times to take photos of the shark.

In the 2007 film, “Arctic Tale”, Queen Latifah narrates the story of about Nany, a young polar bear and her encounters with walruses and narwhals.

In the film, the audience was shocked to find out that the narwhal’s horn is a tusk of some sort. It’s made of ivory and has nerve endings at the tip, allowing them to directly feel the weather.

A nearby resident attended the production and said he learned a lot from it.

“I wanted to see what the arctic was like, especially the narwhals.” Richard Massey, 77, said, “(I) thought the tusk was used for defense.”

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