08.09.2023 Recycling Competition and Huskies
Today we will be able to view the recycling competition and cast our votes. The various departments on board have to make something from recycled materials. The items will be available for the passengers to view and vote on this lunchtime. There were four entries, a cardboard Muskox scull, a cleverly made Christmas scene of a Polar Bear with a Christmas tree, a working electric lamp and a large whale that wobbled! We liked the whale so the Missus and I voted for it. It will be a couple of days before we find out who won.
There was a very interesting talk this afternoon by Elsa. She gave a talk about sled dogs, and a bit about the history of dogs in general. Experts are still not completely sure when dogs did actually split from wolves, and form a relationship with humans. A wolf-dog was found buried with 2 humans in a grave dated to 14,000 years ago. North American peoples used dogs as pack animals at least 11,000 years ago. The evidence for this can be seen in the spines as they had become flattened and worn. Roald Amundsen used dogs on his successful expedition to the South pole in 1911. We learned that there are several breeds of Sled Dogs. The most ancient breed are the Greenland dogs, they are still the closest to Wolves. They are not usually found below the Artic circle. They are capable of pulling 750kg over long distances. In 2022 their genetic make up was looked at and they had developed 9,500 genetic differences to other dogs.
The Samoyedic peoples from Asia use the Samoyed breed for pulling sleds, guard dogs, hunting and herding. They are a friendly breed and known as the smiling dog.
The Alaskan Malamute is a dog that the Inuit used, they are good pack workers. They work at slow speed and the dogs follow the Musher. They can pull 3x's their weight, between 500-1300kg/dog.
Siberian Husky was used by the Chuchi People from North East Asia. They have been developed for endurance pulling light loads over frozen wastes. They started winning sled races in the early 1900s. They can pull 90kg/dog.
The Alaskan Husky is not a pure breed. It is now used for racing and recreation. It is mixed with Nordic breeds and for speed they have been bred with Greyhounds as well. Due to the terrain these dogs race over you will see them wearing protective footwear. They can also look very different from each other.
A Husky/Malamute has the capability to run 5 back to back marathons a week. This has to do with the way their bodies use energy. They use Fats and protein which is slow burning rather than Glycogen, which is a fast burning form of energy.
Dogs helped save the day in 1925 when there was a Diptheria outbreak in Nome Alaska. The quickest way to get the serum to Nome was to put it on the train in Anchorage to the nearest station Naluto, From there it was a 250km journey to Nome. Dog sleds and their Mushers had spread themselves along the route and by using a relay were able to get the serum to Nome quickly.
A Norwegian by the name of Leonard Sippula thought he would go to Alaska to prospect for gold, but the gold rush was in decline and there were many dogs no longer needed. Sippula created a kennel club and encouraged using the dogs for racing instead. His dogs won many races.
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